Taylor, Author at TaylorMade

Color Wheel Clock

July 5, 2011 By Taylor 17 Comments

Have you noticed the “embroidery hoop craze” that is going around? Just search “embroidery hoop” on Pinterest and see what I mean… everything from chalkboards, cork boards, picture frames, and wall art. I thought I’d jump on the Embroidery Hoop bandwagon and I need a clock in the living room, perfect! Fun fact: I went through a small phase in 8th grade when I wanted to collect clocks then I realized they are really noisy at night and got rid of them all. Meet The Color Wheel Clock.

You can get really creative with this, I actually went to the store for an embroidery hoop and a Clock Kit then came home and decided on the Color Wheel and fabric idea. You can use anything for the “hours” of the clock. I thought about buttons, rocks and abstract numbers. But being an art dork I really loved the Color Wheel. What You Need:-Clock Kit (I got mine at Hobby Lobby for $5.99)– One fat quarter for the background of the clock-Embroidery Hoop (mine is 10″)-fabric scraps in 12 different colors– fusible interfacing

Directions: Cut your fabric Scraps out and iron the fusible interfacing to the wrong side of the fabric

Trace a 1″ circle on the back of the interfacing and cut it out

I painted the outside of my embroidery hoop gold to match the clock hands and the screw on the hoop

Fit your background fabric on the embroidery hoop. Measure 5″ from side to side and top to bottom to find the exact center and mark it.

Also mark the spots for each hour

Remove the fabric from the hoop and start placing the color wheel circles in place. Do this on your ironing board so you don’t have to move it once everything is in place. Don’t forget to remove the paper on the back of the interfacing. Iron them down.

Read the instructions on that came with your clock… (it was boring enough the first time so I don’t remember the exact steps; but I did take a pic) It looks daunting but it was really simple.

Cut a little “X” in the middle where you marked your center spot

Push the clock back through and assemble the clock.

Trim the excess fabric around the hoop

I think I am addicted to embroidery hoops now, I have already bought three more, good thing they are only about $2 each! What have you made with embroidery hoops that I need to know about? Or even better if you have a picture upload them to the Taylor Made flickr group and show me what ur workin with.

Nook Covers Part 2

June 29, 2011 By Taylor 5 Comments

Happy Wednesday! I posted about my Nook Covers a few weeks ago HERE. I received quite a few emails and questions about the pattern and if I had a tutorial. Answer… I don’t because I actually purchased one on Etsy. I was going to make my own but I figured for $6 I would save myself some time :) The Etsy shop is called Birdiful Stitches. I love the pattern; it was really easy to follow, quick to sew and she even says you can resell them.

So, I made my third one last night; this time for my mom. I used my Silhouette with the iron-on interfacing and cut the bird out of fabric. Then I sewed it to the front cover before piecing the whole thing together. I found a picture of a bird on a branch that I liked from google images. Then I used the trace feature. Read my “How to Trace Tutorial” HERE.

I added an extra leaf and of course my Taylor Made Label to the back.

I love a good easy project that only takes a few hours but feels like you really accomplished something!

Felt Sunburst Key Chain

June 22, 2011 By Taylor 9 Comments

Do you have a whole box of felt scraps?… Oh that’s just me? I can’t let go of them for some reason even though an entire sheet is .25 cents. Well, I found a way to use all of those precious scraps.

All you need is a keyring from the Hardware Store or Walmart. Use pinking shears (p.s. love my pinking shears) and cut two pieces for the front and back. I used a piece of cardboard as a template and a scrap piece of ribbon to attach the fab to the ring.

Cut out three layers; each a little smaller than the last. I started by making perfect circles then I tried to go for a more abstract/messy look.

Work backwards… sew the button on the smallest circle, then sew that circle on the middle and so on…

Do you use your button foot as much as I do? I can’t live without it. I mean, call me a lazy sewer but it sews a button on in literally about 4 seconds. Continue sewing the other layers on in reverse order.

Sandwich the ribbon (with the key ring on it) between your two layers of felt.

Do you see how I tried to make it look “messy” but I didn’t follow through… might be a minor craft fail? No, not for me, I slapped this baby on my key ring!

I am going to have to perfect the look, I might even put some extras in the Taylor Made Shop. My keys are happy and that is all that matters :)

Father’s Day Tree Art

June 17, 2011 By Taylor 5 Comments

This year I thought the boys could help me make Bryan’s Fathers Day gift. That thought might have been a little premature considering my boys are 4 months and almost 2 years old. This project didn’t turn out exactly as I had planned in my head, but they boys were actually involved so that’s even better right :) Aren’t the little hand prints so cute?

I saw this cute picture on Pinterest a few weeks ago. Then, I drilled down to where it came from and it was an Etsy Shop called Personalized Prints. She has some really cute stuff (love the wedding fingerprint tree). Her example was for a bare tree and you add your kids hand prints for the leaves. She must not have a two year old boy because this is not what happened to me. I couldn’t even take a picture of it because the picture’s life was on the line and I had to act quickly to save it.

I cut the tree and letters out from my Silhouette. Use tweezers for the thin paper branches and tiny letters.

I placed everything backward on a piece of scrap paper and used spray adhesive to stick the letters and tree to the paper.

Stick the tree and letters to the page. Love those pudgy little hands! He even helped me with the letters.

Six very messy hands (mine included) and a few hours later, here is what we came up with…

My “2001” had a little fight with Clyde and Clyde won, so I added a thumbprint heart and wrote the year in the corner.

I used a 13″x10″ frame and used white paper behind our painting.

Happy Father’s Day to all of the daddy’s out there.