DIY Lego Notebooks 4/$1

There is no doubt my boys are in the Lego phase. Of course, my In-To-EVERYTHING 10 month old is a disaster around small pieces such as Legos. Absolutely everything goes in her mouth!! Minus the nightmare choking hazard aspect of Legos in our house...I still let them play with them daily. I can't deny they were possibly one of the best toys created for imaginative play. We rented the Lego Movie tonight and I decided it would be fun to make a craft to go along with it. 

 

 

I had a few old Lego boxes the boys were having trouble parting with. I decided we could repurpose their old Lego boxes into spiral notebooks with some minimal effort.

 

 

I bought a four pack of small spiral notebooks for less then a $1. I bent the ends of the metal spirals and disassembled the notebooks. Then the boys traced the covers of the old notebooks onto the Lego boxes, and we cut them out.

 

 

I lined up the old notebook cover with our new notebook cover, and punched out the holes on top. After threading the metal spiral back through, our notebooks were complete.

 

 

It was the perfect craft for under $1, and we were finally able to get rid of our Lego box collection!

Vintage Ticket Booth Stand for a Carnival

Planning a carnival party or celebration? (P.S. If you are not...you should. It was the best party I have had yet. I will share more later!) This ticket booth was a simple and fast DIY creation. It proved perfect to greet our guests and hand out their favor sack with tickets to spend! I love all things vintage, because I don't have to be a perfectionist.

One of the birthday boys...in our homemade ticket booth.
 

 

 

It started when I saw a small section of fence leaning against our barn wall. It happened to have a worn out coat of white paint on it. I begged my husband to make a few small adjustments to turn it into a ticket window.

 

 

He cut out a window at child height for the boys. He framed it with 2x4's to support it. I think the easiest way to explain is with this picture of the back.

 

 

 

 

Next, my boys helped paint some red on the ticket booth. Remember, no need to be neat when you are going for a vintage look. The actual counter on the ticket booth was painted yellow by me.

 

 

Almost done...

 

This cute little sign attached to the front finished it off!

 

 

 

Welcome to the Carnival!! Enjoy!!

 

 

Kids Jeans too Short? Lengthen them.

I am sure a lot of you hit the winter, tried on your kids jeans, and wondered how they could have possibly grown soooo many inches in one year! I know my boys gained at least 2 inches each. It amazes me how it does not hurt to grow that fast. I needed a fast way to repurpose some jeans that were too short. My friend also mentioned that none of her daughter's jeans fit anymore either, so I saw a great opportunity for a challenge.  This is what I whipped up...

 

I should first start and clarify I like to sew...but I rarely attempt anything related to clothing. These were so simple to make though. I wish I had a little girl to make some more fun jeans for. Boys couldn't pull these ruffly jeans off. LOL!

 

I started by cutting the hem off the bottom of both jean legs with a few additional inces shaved off. (It depends on how short they already are on your child)

 

Next, I cut an 8" width strip by about 19" I needed to fold it in half to make a 4" bottom. I measured the bottom width of the jeans x 2 and added about 5-6 inches for gathering. For example, if the bottom width of your jeans is 7"...7x2=14+5=19"

 

Next I sewed a wide stitch about 1/2" down from where the open tops matched up. (Remember not to backstitch at all). Then I pulled my strings to create the "perfect" gather...or until they fit the bottom of my jeans. I sewed the two 4" ends together and pinned my ruffled pant leg in place. Please note you will pin at the bottom edge of the jeans with the closed portion facing up so it can flip down later.

 

This sure is super hard to explain when I don't have sewing terminology 101. I hope the pictures help!!

 

Stitch your ruffled pant leg in place.

 

 

 

We also happened to have a small hole in the knee, so I ironed on a homemade patch to match, and used a simple blanket stitch around the edges.

 

They turned out to be a great way to repurpose once too short jeans.

 

 

Has anyone seen any cute ideas for boys??