Growing Up Creative

# 8 How-to make a tote bag out of an old (I ♥ NY) t-shirt

I ♥ NY ….
I used to say that one of the best things about living in Boston is the proximity to NYC.
One of my favorite things to do was to take the first bus to the city, walk from the central bus station on 42nd all the way down to the Brooklyn Bridge via Union Square, the Flatiron building, and ABC Carpeting (one of my favorite stores). Then, Take the last bus going back; recharged with energy that lasted for at least another month. 

Now, the closest I can get to the flatiron building is by staring at my over sized IKEA print hanging in my bedroom. 

I love the logo - I ♥ NY
This brilliant logo was designed by Milton Glaser, and it has been used since the mid 70’s to promote tourism in New York (city and state). For some odd reason, my girls have four  I ♥ NY t-shirts, So it was no problem to spare one and turn it into a tote bag. This project was made by Zoe, her first project using a sewing machine; make her Ima proud….

This is how you (or your child) can make a tote bag out of an old t-shirt:

You will need:
An old t-shirt (dah..)
Scissors
Sewing machine or needle and thread

How to:

1. Fold the t-shirt in 2
2. Trim the neckline
3. Trim the sleeves turning the t-shirt into a tang top
4. Turn the t-shirt inside out
5. Fold the shirt so the side seam is in the middle 
6. Stitch the bottom, use zigzag if you have it, or hand stitch.
7. Lay the bottom of the shirt flat, Stitch the corners of, make your miters even and perpendicular to the side and bottom seams, (stitching the miter will give volume to the bag)
8. Turn it right side out

And, TADA

Thoughts and variations:

• This is a great project for beginners like Zoe (7)
• Can be used as a gift wrap instead of paper
• Use large t-shirts to make eco friendly grocery bags
  
  I am linking this post to Craft Schooling Sunday

How to make a Butterfly family collection

I’ve always loved looking at butterflies and insect collections in the Natural History Museums. The patterns and colors are mind-boggling, and a great source of inspiration. I particularly like the moths and beetles collection,but that's a different project.  
This spring we have decided to make our own family collection, pinned up in a display box.
We spent some time studying Zoe’s butterfly poster, looking carefully at the different wing shapes and patterns. We tried picking one favorite, but we have miserably failed to do so. Mostly, we enjoyed working side by side, drawing butterflies from our imagination.
Following is a simple tutorial for making your own family/class or private butterfly collection.

Making the butterflies

You will need:

• Sharpies (of course)
• White Card stock (we have used water color Bristol paper because I like the thickness as well as the texture, and also that was all I had)
• Small scissors
• Pencil
• Any kind of butterfly reference (web, books, posters, etc..)

How to:

1. Spend some time looking at pictures of butterflies, study their patterns, their shapes etc.
2. Draw half a butterfly on your board, fold it in the middle.
3. Cut out your butterfly (younger kids may need some help with cutting)
   
4. Open your butterfly, and color your butterfly creating different patterns
   
   
   
   

Thoughts and variations:

• This is a great project for all age groups. Each will demonstrate different skills and ability, you might need to help the kids accordingly. Zoe really enjoyed making up the butterfly shapes - she became our expert butterfly ‘shaper’.
• The more you study your references, the more you will stay away form the symbolic butterfly (2 back to back B’s).
• We didn’t really plan our box in advance, we drew many different butterflies (it was hard to stop). We didn’t use all of the butterflies for the display box. Having a variety of sizes was effective.

Making the display box:
To cover the box I have followed a tutorial I found via Creative Jewish Mom at Litchi7.
This is the first box I have ever covered with fabric, and I have to admit…it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. If you are a little intimidated with the process, you may paint the box, or cover it with paper. I am sure you will think of a creative alternative. 

You will need:

• A sturdy shallow box such as a shoe box cover
• a piece of corrugated cardboard, foam, or cork in the size of the back of your box.
• Fabric 
• Craft glue
• Scissors
• Pencil
• Sewing pins
• Hot glue

How to:

1. Glue the corrugated cardboard, cork or foam inside the back of your box. Weight it down and set aside to dry. This is so the back of the box is cushioned enough to accept the pins.
   
2. Cover the box following this tutorial
   
   
3. Lay down your butterflies, planning the display composition
   
   
4. Place 2 pins through the center of the butterflies. ( I used 2 so the butterflies wont swivel) do it directly on the box, this way you will have all the butterflies pinned down, before you start to glue them one by one.
   
5. Start with the first one, place some hot glue in the pinhole markings, push butterfly all the way to the head of the pins, and poke pins into the back of the box, through the hot glue. The butterflies end up pinned away from the box.
6. Repeat with the rest of the butterflies.

We have added small labels for each butterfly, containing the species name and the name of the person who drew it.




Enjoy.

tali

linked on Craft Schooling Sunday

Sparks:006 sharpen your nose - a fun game for everyone

I was at the beach with my extremely talented aunt. as usual we were engaged in long conversation about everything and anything that seemed important at that moment. Her son just got married, which led to a conversation about childhood and raising kids. She was telling me how she and her brother, who is also a great artist, used to walk down the streets and imagine the cars as humans making faces. We both agreed that kids don’t need much to be creative, what they need the most is to sharpen their senses in order to engage with their surrounding and notice details. One of the ways to sharpen their senses is by playing games, here is one for you. We have played it the other day and had so much fun; I know you will too….

How to sharpen your nose

you will need:
4-6 cups
4-6 sheets of paper
rubber bands
something to poke holes with
4-6 items that have a strong and distinct fragrance such as: half a lemon, mango, onion, lavender, rosemarie, mint leafs, popcorn, a smelly rose.
paper and something to draw with

What to do:
Place each object in a cup, place paper on top, hold tight with a rubber band. poke some holes on top.

Number each cup

Pass cups around. participants need to identify what they smell and make a drawing of it. if they cant identify it, they should draw what they think it may be, or what something that smell like that would look like.

the participants should not reveal the answers to the others until everyone is done.

Make sure everyone numbers the drawings according to the objects.

 

Reveal objects at the end.

have fun
tali