DIY: Energizer Bunny Costume

What’s a good excuse to munch on some Pringles? And not just one can, but two cans... a Halloween costume! I thoroughly enjoyed eating my Pizza and Extra Hot Chili & Lime Pringles. Last year, I needed a costume for the electronic music festival, Escape Psycho Circus, and thought the Energizer Bunny was such a fun idea! It also happened to be in October, so it was perfect for the festival and Halloween – double win! 

Read on for my step-by-step tutorial of how to make this exact costume! First step... Materials! 

Materials: 

Battery “Backpack” 

• 2 Pringles cans
• Silver duck tape
• 2 drinks caps (I used 2 Kombucha caps)
• Thick pink ribbon (for battery backpack straps)
• Drill (to make holes into the Pringles cans)
• 2 cut-outs of “Energizer” logo (for the batteries)
• Felt letters (preferably white)
• Hot glue gun 

Drum

• Cookie tin (got mine from Rite Aid)
• Blue fabric (I used a large blue t-shirt)
• White spray paint
• Thin red duck tape (0.75 inch thickness)
• Blue duck tape (one that matches the blue fabric) 
• 2 cut-outs of plain "Energizer" logo (for the faces of the drum)

Drumsticks

• 2 wooden dowels
• 2 foams balls
• White spray paint (same one used for the drum)
• Red paint
• Small paint brush
• Glue
• Masking tape 

Outfit

• Pink top
• Pink leggings
• Bunny ears 
• Sunglasses
• White loofah (for the tail)
• Safety pin 

Instructions: 

Making the Battery “Backpack” 

1. Using a ruler, measure down from the top of the Pringles can 2.5”. This is where the black part of the battery ends. Do this on both cans.
   
2. Use the silver duck tape and wrap it around the bottom part of the two Pringles cans up to the line you marked 
   
3. Use the black duck tape and wrap it around the top of the two Pringles cans 
4. Using a drill, drill a hole 3 inches from the bottom and 6 inches from the bottom of each Pringles can. This will be for the "backpack" straps to thread into. 
5. Cut two pieces of thick pink ribbon to be the “backpack” straps. Thread one through the top hole and then out the bottom hole of the Pringles can. Knot the ends together. Do this on both cans. It'll look like this when completed.
   
6. Glue the Kombucha bottle lid onto the plastic Pringles can lids.
   
7. Place the lids on the Pringles cans and duck tape them silver.
   
8. With the two ribbon straps facing outwards (one to the left side, one to the right side), use the hot glue gun to glue the two Pringles cans together. You may need to supplement the bond with some extra strips of duck tape.
9. Print and cut out two Energizer battery logos. While you’re on the computer, also print out a plain Energizer logo for the drum.
10. If your felt letters aren’t white (mine were pink), spray paint 4 “A”s and 1 “L” white. The L will be use to make the “+” symbols. You may need to spray multiple coats to make them really look white.
    
11. Glue the Energizer logo onto each of the Pringles cans. 
12. Glue the “+AA” onto the top part of each Pringles can.
    
     

Making the Drum Sticks 

1. Spray paint 2 wooden dowels with the white paint. You may want to also use this time to spray paint the cookie tin white (step 1 of the "Making the Drum" instructions below). Spray additional coats once dry until it is the desired “whiteness”.
   
2. Once the drum sticks are dry, use the drill to make a hole into the center of two foam balls. Hot glue the drum sticks into them.
3. Tape the wooden dowel right under the ball with masking tape so you don’t get any paint on the sticks.
   
4. Position the sticks in a way where you can paint the foam balls but still let them dry. I used a vise clamp to hold them upright. If you don’t have a vise clamp, you could paint one side at a time, wait for them to dry, and paint the other side. Paint the foam balls red. Wait for them to dry before applying additional coats.
   
5. Remove the masking tape, once the paint has dried. 
   

 Making the Drum

1. Spray paint the entire cookie tin white. I had to do multiple coats to make sure the design underneath was fully covered.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. Once the tin has dried, lay it down on your blue fabric to trace out a circle. Cut out the center of the circle so that it’s about 1 inch thick. You’ll need 2 of these hollow circles.
   
3. Glue the hollow fabric circles to both sides of the face of the drum. 
4. Use the red duck tape to make zig zags along the outer edge of the drum.
   
5. Glue the plain Energizer logo you printed earlier and glue it to both faces of the drum.
6. Now, we're going to cover the outer edges of the drum where the blue circle meets the red duck tape. Trim the width of the blue duck tape so that it fits the outer edges of the drum.
   
7. Tape the outer edge of the drum. I'm wearing a sexy glove in this photo because I was fixing the edges of the blue fabric with super glue and didn't want to get my hand all gluey.
   
   
   






8. To make the neck strap, fold the blue duck tape into itself. The photo will make more sense.
   
9. Lay the neck strap on top of both edges of the drum and secure them temporarily with masking tape. Try it on to see if you like where the drum height is.
   
   
   






10. Trim off the excess neck strap tape and use blue duck tape to tape down the top side and bottom sides of the neck strap to the drum. Do this on both sides of the neck strap.
    
11. Admire your hard work.
    
    
    

To put the whole outfit together, use a safety pin to pin the white loofah to the butt part of your pink leggings. Be careful not to place it in a spot that might stab you! I pinned the loofah strap to the back top part of my pants, and my shirt covered it so it was fine! Pair the pink leggings with your pink top, put on the drum, wear your ears and sunglasses, and hold a drumstick in each hand. Ta da! You’re the energizer bunny!

 Have fun!

DIY: How to Sew a Quiet Book

What is a quiet book? A quiet book is a soft book typically made of fabric or felt full of interactive activities to help babies/toddlers learn and keep them preoccupied. I’m not sure whether it’s called a quiet book because the book is made of soft/quiet materials or if it makes your child stay quiet because they’re engaged… but either way, they are fun to make and to play with!

I had never heard of a quiet book until my sister tagged me in a Facebook video about one as a “subtle” hint to make for her then 1 year old daughter, my niece! So I had it in the back of my mind to make one for her and then ended up CRAM crafting the week before xmas to make it! I actually made this quiet book a whole YEAR ago, but it’s never too late to post about it! I’m really happy with how it all turned out!

This blog post will:

·        Go through my process of how I went about figuring out how to make a quiet book

·        Walk through how I created the individual pages and bound the book together, step-by-step. I’ll also include any helpful links as additional reference material!

DIY: Wall Art Christmas Tree

A video posted by Stephanie Woo (@fromwootoyou) on Dec 13, 2015 at 7:21pm PST

I was inspired to make this cute space-saving Christmas tree when I came across a version of it on Brit+Co.’s Snapchat channel, which by the way, is awesome and I can’t wait for it to come back on December 18! I didn't have any colorful paper on hand to use (aside from primary colored construction paper), but saw some holiday themed tissue paper for a whopping $2.99 at TJ Maxx so decided to give it a whirl and I think it turned out great!

DIY: Turkey Sweatband

During last year’s Thanksgiving, I came up with the idea to make turkey sweatbands to wear during the annual 5K Turkey Trot and amazingly, my friends agreed to wear them! Scouring the web for inspiration and possible tutorials, I only saw a variety of turkey hats, but no turkey sweatbands…. So I made my own tutorial!

This year, we are running it again and recruited some new friends into the group and they wanted to wear them too! A tradition has been born! Based on a few people’s comments about our sweatbands looking like Princess Leia hair (LOL), I made a few modifications to last year’s design, specifically around the placement of the drumsticks on the sweatband. Hopefully, this year people will be able to tell we are turkeys! ... although being mistaken for Princess Leia would be rather applicable this time of year…

Quilted Zippered Ipad Mini Case Review

Just wanted to do a quick post about the quilted zippered ipad mini case I sewed last night! (that's a mouthful) I ordered myself an ipad mini during Cyber Monday week and it finally came!! I wanted to whip up a case so that I could safely take it on the plane with me this week; I followed Sew Caroline's tutorial. I do have an iHome smart book cover on it. Here's my finished product and some thoughts about the process.

Isn't it so cute?? I got the fabric in Taiwan and had no idea what I was going to use it for so it sat in my closet for over a year. I also added a "From Woo to You" tag :D

Quilting
This was the first time I had attempted free motion quilting, where you control the fabric under the needle to create a pattern. And yes, I had to google, "what are quilted lines called" to get to the term "free motion quilting" haha! Notice the black wavy lines in the picture below? It's actually pretty satisfying! In order to get comfortable with free-handing the wavy line process, I practiced on a scrap piece of fabric. I actually initially chose a yellow thread to match the inside fabric, but it seemed to clash too much with the cats. The cats need to stand on their own!

Also, I thought using safety pins to pin all over the fabric instead of using straight pins was interesting. Apparently, that's so you don't stick yourself since you have to have a good number of them across the fabric to hold the layers in place and move the fabric around under the sewing needle. No bleeding on the project, please!

Zipper
I've completed a few zippered projects (e.g., pencil skirt, zippered pouch) but I'm still afraid of installing zippers! The whole process confuses me so I have to always double, quadruple check that I'm sewing it the right way. Sew Caroline's tutorial kind of glossed over this step so I had to spend quite a bit of time trying to figure it out!

Sew Caroline's Instructions:
Step Four: Place your zipper face down on the RIGHT side of the outside of your pouch. The zipper teeth should be about 1″ from the top edge. Stitch in place.

Step Five: Repeat this with the other size of the zipper and the other side of the outside of the pouch.

Instructions Deciphered:
Step Four: Stitch in place along the TOP edge of the zipper, like where the pointed needle pokes out in her picture.

Step Five: Then flip this piece over and place it on top of the other piece so that the Right sides are facing each other on the inside, and Wrong sides are outside. Fold the top piece down, so that you see the zipper. The zipper pull should now be on the left side and the stitched line should be on the bottom. You'll sew along the top edge of the zipper now to the bottom fabric. Does that make more sense??

The thing I don't like about this method of installing the zipper is that once you flip it inside out, you see the outside fabric sticking out... The next time I sew this, I'll have to figure out a way to hide this...

Also, I used a 7" zipper. I'd probably use a 9" zipper next time, just because the opening to put the ipad mini in is a bit tight...

Machine Feet
I used a walking foot for the majority of this project, except for the zipper part where I used a zipper foot. A walking foot is good for quilting or working with slippery fabrics since it pulls the top fabric along with the bottom fabric. Ever sew pieces of fabric together and then they don't line up at the end? So frustrating! A walking foot helps with that. I used this YouTube video to understand how it works and how to install it.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with the end product. What do you think?

DIY: Quick Halloween Costume - Gumball Machine

Just wanted to do a quick post of a Halloween costume idea for those of you who are scrambling to get a costume by Friday and now there's no time to order it from Amazon! I think this idea is so cute and doesn't require any sewing.... just glue... a lot of glue.

Materials:

• Spaghetti strap top 
• Red skirt
• Medium-size Pom Poms
  (I couldn't find just medium-size ones, so I bought assorted packs that consisted of mini, medium, and large ones. I bought 7 assorted packs, and 5 individual packs of just red and white colors)
• A piece of black, gray, and white felt 
• Hot glue gun and refill glue sticks
  (I originally bought fabric glue, but it doesn't dry fast enough so the pom poms kept falling off! Hot glue is so much easier and faster)
• Sharpie

The Quick and Dirty:

• Where I bought my materials and cost: 
• Spaghetti strap top - Forever 21, $1.90
• Red skirt - Forever 21, $4.90
• Pom Poms - Walmart, $0.97 per packet
• Felt - I already had some, but Walmart has these too
• Hot glue gun - I had this as well, but Walmart or CVS has this
• Total Cost : ~ $20
• Time to put together: 
• About 2 hours. I was watching Project Runway as I was making mine, so I was a bit distracted! 

Directions: 

1. Try on your top with your skirt and use a safety pin to mark off where the top meets the skirt. This is where you want the pom poms to stop.
2. While you still have the outfit on, lay the gray felt down over the skirt and determine how big you want your dispenser to be. Keep your skirt on. 
3. Cut your felt pieces and glue the parts (e.g., coin holder, knob, chute) onto the gray felt. Now originally, I used the fabric glue to glue the felt pieces on, but when I went to try on the skirt later, since the skirt is stretchy and the felt is not, it ripped the felt piece right off! I ended up hot gluing the felt pieces onto the skirt while I had it on so that the stretch was maintained.
   Disclaimer: Do not burn yourself while doing this! You may want to put a towel under the skirt to add additional layers between the hot glue and your skin... Wait a little bit before taking off the skirt so that the glue is dry. 
4. While the top is not on you, hot glue the pom poms onto the top. I originally wanted to have the pom poms go all the way around but I didn't have enough pom poms, so I just did the front! 
5. Once the glue is dry, try it on and admire your handiwork! 

And a silly vine of my gumball machine costume! (click bottom right corner for sound)  

I got my inspiration from Rachel's post from Life Unsweetened; check out how she made her costume!

DIY: Reupholstered Office Chair

I finished this project ages ago and it's about time I made a post about it! I decided that I would try to reupholster my office chair since the seat cushion and fabric had developed a good sized hole, I guess from all my squirming! All the online blogs with reupholstering tutorials that I came across were for chairs that were 2 separate pieces, like a back piece and a seat piece. My desk chair was just one whole piece so I wasn't really sure how I would go about doing it. The following directions are by no means how you're supposed to do something like this, but it's how I did it! My dad actually got me the desk chair a few years ago when his office was throwing a bunch of them away and he took as many as he could fit in his car from the dumpsters! (They were clean though!) That's probably why I had the attitude of if this worked, great!, If it didn't, I'd just go buy a new chair. I started the project at 10 PM, always a good time to start something, and not gonna lie, it was kinda a haphazard process, but I think it turned out pretty good!

DIY: Stenciled Moroccan Rug

It has been quite some time since I've had a new post... I've been meaning to put this one up for a while since I made the rug before I moved into my new apartment and it's been several months since I've moved! The picture above is my living room with the "new" rug (not so new now) I stenciled!

To make the rug, I referenced several blogs, which I'll link below. Total time probably took me around 15 hours... I know that is an absurd amount of time, but I learned some things along the way so if I did this project again I don't think it'd take that long.. Total cost was about $50-$60.

DIY: How to Hem Your Dress Pants

What a relief it is to be able to hem my own pants! No more taking them to the tailor to be hemmed for $20! The last time I got them professionally hemmed, they were still a little too long and then I tripped on them in the parking lot mid-sentence while talking to my manager! I'm actually surprised he didn't burst out laughing because I would have! I ripped my pants at the knee, scraped my palm, and bruised my ego... but I was more upset at the wasted cost of getting them professionally tailored! Well, no more of that wasted nonsense because I can do it myself! Now... if I can just start a side business of hemming my coworkers' pants I could made a side fortune...... hmmmm haha 

This was the 4th pair of dress pants I hemmed myself, and it really boils down to a couple steps.

- Cut off the excess fabric while accounting for the seam allowance

- Zigzag stitch the raw edge of the fabric to prevent fraying

- Hand sew the hem

I'll break down the steps now in more detail.

Here's what you'll need.

Materials: 

- pants you'll be hemming 

- needle and matching thread

- seam ripper

- fabric scissors

- pins

- chalk

- ruler

- seam gauge

- iron (not pictured)

- shoes you'll be wearing your pants with (not pictured) 

DIY: Embroidered Cards

I know it's a little after Christmas, but I thought I'd share with you a quick tutorial on ways to sew your own cards! I embroidered some Christmas cards and one New Years card this year (inspired by Next to Nicx), but you could totally embroider cards for all occasions. I had this glorious plan to sew like 10 cards this year and I thought it was going to take no time, but the first one took me... pause... about 8 hours to complete
>.< ahh! (the one pictured above) I ended up giving it to my sister and her husband so I hope they frame it and keep it forever! So I quickly nixed that idea to make 10 cards and with such an elaborate design, figured out quicker ways to do it, and simplified it so each card afterwards ended up taking me about 30 min. each. Phew!

I don't have as many detailed photos as I usually do for my tutorials, but it's easy enough!

DIY: Makeup Brush Case

Whenever I go traveling, I always stuff my makeup brushes into a ziploc bag, which mushes the brushes and spreads my makeup onto the other brushes...but no more!

I now have a functional and cute case to store them in! Deborah Moebe's book, Stitch by Stitch, has a tutorial on how to make a picnic placemat, and I modified her instructions to make a laminated makeup brush case. I wanted to line my case with a plastic lining so that it can be cleaned easily, but I couldn't find any laminated fabric with a cute design at Jo Ann's and I was too impatient to order it online, so I used a shower curtain! It's a lot cheaper that way too, and mildew and bacteria resistant! Perfect!

The instructions below will be how I made the orange case, but I'll list out how I modified them to make the black cases. (see modification notes within the steps).

DIY: Bias Tape

My next post will be how to sew a makeup brush case, but first, I'm going to teach you how to make bias tape, which will be the first step to making the makeup brush case. This was the first time I made bias tape and honestly while I was making it I was like, this does not make sense!! but with patience and diligence, it worked out! I'm sure I'm going to be making more in the future and it'll be way easier now that I know what I'm doing!

What is bias tape?
Bias tape (aka bias binding) is basically fabric that is cut at the bias, the 45 degree angle to the selvage, into a long strip. It's a little misleading that it's called "tape" when it's not sticky at all.
Because bias tape is cut across the woven threads as opposed to along them, it is flexible and durable. It is used mainly for edging projects, especially curved ones, such as armholes, necklines, placemats, bags, etc.

You can buy them already made but the selections are pretty limited (see Wrights bias tape above), or make them yourself.

DIY: Fall Yarn Wreath

Here's a quickie post: a mini wreath for the fall!

Sorry about the weird colors... I'm getting a new camera soon!!!! ^_^