Southern Girl Creations

Monday, May 30, 2011

Brown Sugar Scrub

I made brown sugar scrub today by request.  I made this a couple of years ago for a Christmas gift.  I got a call from my mom that she really needed some more of it.  She uses it as a great natural facial scrub.  I have others say they use it for their hands when they come in from working in the garden and I have used it on the heels of my feet in flip flop weather...

1 Cup of brown sugar
1/4 cup of Almond oil
1/2 tsp. vitamin e oil
8 - 10 drops of sweet orange oil

You can make a couple of substitutions if you would like..  You can replace the almond oil with olive oil, coconut oil, sunflower oil or any other type of plant-based oils. 

you can use vanilla, or several drops of lavender oil in place of the sweet orange oil if you would like it is basically for scent.

Mix all ingredients together and put in a jar with a lid.

To use moisten skin where you plan on using the scrub with warm water. Scoop out a bit of the scrub and apply to your skin.  Work it in gently using a circular motion.  Rinse off with warm water.  It will leave you with incredibly soft skin.


Until next time... I hope everyone had a great Memorial day weekend.. Remember those who serve our country!

Sunday, May 22, 2011

Solar Powered Jar Light

Today I made this solar powered jar light to put out on my patio this summer.  It just took a latch jar $1, frosted glass paint and a solar powered garden light $3 at Walmart. I found the original idea at notmartha.org (a big thanks to Megan there for the great idea) . 

I took the latch jar completely apart and painted just the bottom of the jar with the frosted glass paint. I took apart the solar light and just used the solar cell with the light.  I glued the solar powered light to the bottom of the jar lid.  (Do not paint the top of the jar so the light will shine though to the solar cell).  After the glue dried on the lid and the paint dried on the jar I put it all back together and Tah Dah...  I just love it!!!



Sunday, May 15, 2011

Tutorial: How to Make a Kindle Cover

Since you guys were interested.. and I love ya'll so much here is the Kindle Cover Tutorial I promised.

How to Make a Kindle Cover

Supplies Needed:
1/4 Yard of Fabric I used 100% cotton
1/4 Yard of Fusible interfacing
1/4 Yard of Felt for lining
Velcro
Sewing machine, thread and other notions

The size of the Kindle is 71/2 inches tall by 47/8 inches wide.  I know that this cover will fit the Kindle I do not know about any other e-reader devices. This is for what they consider the 3rd generation Kindle.  3G Kindle purchased in May of 2011. 

Supplies
Cut the following :

The case
2 pieces of the cotton fabric 9.75 inches x 7 inches
2 pieces of fusible interfacing 9.75 inches x 7 inches
2 pieces of felt for lining 9.75 inches x 7 inches

The pocket
1 piece of the cotton fabric 5.5 inches x 7 inches
1 piece of fusible interfacing 5.5 inches x 7 inches
1 piece of felt lining for pocket 5.5 inches x 7 inches

The Tab Closure
1 piece of cotton fabric 5 inches x 3.5 inches
1 piece of fusible interfacing 5 inches x 3.5 inches
1 piece of felt 5.5 inches x 3.5 inches



You could iron on the fusible interfacing first then cut it  at the same time with the fabric (my rotary blade is a little dull so I cut each piece at a time)

Then iron the fusible interfacing on back (or wrong side) each piece of the cotton fabric.



Start with the smallest piece of felt and fabric for the tab closure first.  I pin the 5.5inch x 3.5 inch piece of felt to the front or right side of the fabric with the interfacing ironed on it


Here is where I tell you that I am not a great seamstress so I sew with half inch seams.  Every seam in the rest of this tutorial is .5  or half inch.
I sew only one of the shortest 3.5 inch sides on the tab. Sewing the felt and fabric with the interfacing together. I then open that seam fold the wrong sides of the tab together and press the cotton side to make a nice sharp seam.  FYI if you are using synthetic felt please DO NOT iron the felt side unless you have your iron on the lowest setting. The felt will melt!!! (ask me how I know). Unfold and place the soft side of the Velcro about a half inch  down on the felt from the seam I just created and sew it in place.  Only sew the Velcro on the felt DO NOT sew through the fabric.

Fold the right sides of the tab back together and sew down both long sides.  You will now just have the bottom of the tab open.  Turn the tab right out I use a pencil to make sure to push the corners out well.  I then press it again. 


Set the tab aside we are going to work on the pocket now. 

Pin the right sides of the  5.5 inches x 7 inches fabric and felt together.



Sew down one of the long 7 inch sides of the fabric. Sewing the felt and the fabric with interfacing together.  Fold open placing the wrong sides together and press the seam well.  I like to go back and top stitch over the seam just created just to make it a little nicer looking.



Now take one of the pieces of 9.75 x 7 inch pieces of fabric.  This will be the back of your case.  Position your pocket at the bottom of this piece of fabric line the edges up at the bottom of the fabric the seam that you created on the pocket will be almost center of the piece of back fabric.  Pin together and baste the 3 unseamed edges or the two sides and the bottom of the pocket onto the back piece of fabric.



Now center your tab at the top of this piece of fabric with the pocket basted on it.  You line up  the open edge of the tab with the top of this piece of fabric with the felt / Velcro facing upwards. 





Now pin one of your 9.75 x 7 inch pieces of felt on top of this. 



Sew a seam along the top edge of the fabric and felt,  this will catch the tab in the seam of your back piece of fabric.  This will be the top of the back of your case.  Fold the seam open and the wrong sides together press and top stitch. 



Moving along to the front of the case.  Pin the second 9.75 x 7 inch piece of felt to the right side of the piece of 9.75 x 7 inch fabric that will be your case front. 



Sew a seam along one of the short edges sewing the felt and fabric together.  Fold open the seam press and top stitch. This will be the top of the front of the case.  I lined up both the front piece and the back piece of the case and decided where I wanted the rough piece of Velcro should be located on the front piece of the case.


Stitch on the rough side of the Velcro to the front of the case.  Only stitch though the fabric and the interfacing do not stitch through the felt.



Now unfold the fabric and the felt and line up the right sides of the fabric and pin together. Note that the felt pieces are together out the top.





Sew together the long sides and the bottom of the interfaced fabric pieces. DO NOT sew across the top where the felt is attached.

Now sew together the two long sides of the felt. DO NOT sew together either of the short sides of the felt.  The bottom will be left open to turn everything right side out.



Turn the case right side out





I went back here and sewed a seam across the bottom of the felt just so it would not be left open. I trimmed it up a little so it wouldn't be too bulky in the bottom of the case. Turn the felt inside the case to make the lining. Press the whole case with lots steam so it will look really sharp and nice.  Insert Kindle and you are ready to go!!!











Please let me know if you have any problems..

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Blog content & images are property of Sherry Lovelady. Images & patterns are for personal, non-commercial use only. Please do not take images from this site without permission.  If interested in making more than 3 of these please contact me to purchase licensing permissions.



Linking To

Poodle Skirt

I just finished up Savannah's poodle skirt that she needed for her pre-k end of year program.  I am pretty proud of it I think it came out cute.  I can't believe she is going to be in kindergarten next year...


Linking To

Friday, May 13, 2011

The DIY Dish Giveaway!!!

Today is the last day to go to DIY Dish and win some great Birthday Presents! Here is the link

Happy Birthday Kim and Kris (Click Here)

Sherry

Monday, May 9, 2011

Kindle Cover

For Mothers Day this year I bought my mom a Kindle.  It was what she wanted.  I hope she really likes it.  After I bought the Kindle I went on a quest to find her a cover for it.  All the covers in the store are over $30.  They are lighted and have stands etc..  My mom is really careful with electronics. We just had to get her a new cell phone because AT&T said hers would not work on their network anymore.  Her 8 year old phone that worked perfectly still looked brand new.  So, she doesn't need a case that its main purpose is to protect it she just needs one to store it in. 

I couldn't find one that I really liked so I started my search on the web to find a pattern.  I found several patterns and decided on one.  It was aweful.. just aweful... It was partially my fault for not reading through all the instructions before I started. There were many skipped steps.  Well... I finished it but I threw it aside and decided I could do better making one on my own. 

Here is what I came up with.  It is lined with wool felt.  I am pretty proud of it!  I will be glad to make up a pattern and instructions ( I will try to do a better job than what I found out there) if anyone is interested.







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