Week 2: Animal

This week the theme was Animal.

Vote for your favorite project at the bottom of the post!

#1 Embroidered Tees

Channel your inner wild thing with some hand-embroidered T-shirts, featuring a friendly dinosaur and a toothy shark. Simply print your favorite animal image, trace onto tracing paper with a fabric transfer marker and iron the design right onto your shirt. Then use an embroidery needle and floss to sew over the design.

These designs were made with simple straight stitches, satin stitches and French knots. Sit down for your favorite TV show and you'll be done in no time.

Rawr!

#2 Junky Birdhouse

I began my birdhouse project with some old re-purposed wood that I... ah... 

"borrowed" from behind my neighbor's shed...

A lot of measuring, cutting, drilling, screwing, hammering

and sweating later....

and I was ready to decorate! The best part!

I used rusty light switch plates for the side windows

and shims for the shutters and the steps. All the new wood was painted with a vinegar treatment that gave it the perfect aging.

A lock box from an old door made a great front door and 

a rusty screw was a perfect perch... 

I used metal flashing for the roof, distressing  

and then cutting it with a decorative edge. 

Finally for the chimney 

I used a rusty spout from an oil can.

I hope the birds will love it as much as I do!

#3 Macarena Tortoise

The tortoise is a special symbol for our family. So, I did not need to thing a lot about the subject "animal" .

I'm proud and glad, Ladies and Gentlemen, to introduce and present at your attention - Macarena Tortoise, also known as the Queen Mexican-a. :D

She's sculptured out of papier mache (chewed paper) and decorated within napkin paper ropes. She is 16 * 9.5 cm young. :)

Her social life is full of diversity - walks, friends, flowers, sunbath, etc. :)

She is even a fast runner than a ferrari! My daughter adores it (the tortoise, not the ferrari)! And I don't see a reason to not vote for it (the tortoise, not my daughter) ;)

#4 Vintage Circus Pillow

I'm so excited to be here for Round 2 of OMTWI!

I adore the look of anything vintage...furniture, glassware, clothing, anything...so as soon as I learned of this week's theme, I knew what I wanted to do.

Vintage circus posters have always been something I've loved..the colors are amazing and the artwork is out of this world. I thought it would be super-cool to incorporate some of this iconic artwork into one of my projects...this little throw pillow.

I found some images that I loved online, printed them out on some linen & attached the printed fabric to some vintage pillow ticking I got at an estate sale.

Next, I cut a little triangle out of vintage linens and created a flag for my little dancing bear to be waving during the circus parade...

Some white pom-pom trim on the sides of my little pillow completed the "Under The Big Top" look I was imagining...

#5 Wild Thing Zebra Skirt

Thank you so much for letting me share my "Animal"-themed project this week! I had a blast creating this...

"Wild Thing" Zebra Skirt

When given the theme of ANIMAL and the freedom to interpret that anyway we desired, I knew right away that I wanted a skirt full of personality, with some zebra print to add that extra POW!

I started with the idea of a basic pencil skirt, then gave it a "paper bag" style with a sash on top.  I love the vintage throw-back with its high waist and longer length.  For extra flirty flair, there is a zebra kick pleat in the back!

I made the entire skirt from scratch, making it up as I went along, no patterns or tutorials!

Sexy.  Wild.  Animal!

Disclaimer:  I did not craft or embellish the shoes.  They were a fortunate coincidence that came straight out of my closet.

#6 Bear Home 

Poor little bear, his name was Orange Bear, had no place to call his very own.

While his name was very clever and unique, he lived in a bare corner of the room with no place to keep all of his special things.

He was very sad and lonely.

One fine, exceedingly hot day, his human friends took some of their old things to make into a home for Orange Bear.

They worked and worked and the mother complained just a little bit because she kept burning her fingers with hot glue.

Finally, a home was finished and Orange Bear moved in.

Orange Bear was so happy in his new home. He could get mail and watch movies.

His little friend came to play with him more often

and they lived happily ever after.

The end.

#7 Animal Crackers

This week the theme is Animals, and I had a little inspiration from an

Old vintage tin can I found at the local thrift store.

I loved the colors and the whimsical theme so I thought this would be a great piece to

Incorporate into the project.

Here is a collage of the way the little wooden tool box looked like when I got it

And the reveal of the after result. I decided to use it as a display with flowers in

It but you could use it for a million different things. 

Ok, enough of the monkey business - Here it is !!!

I Had alot of fun with the whimsey of the project and I hope you

Like it too !!!  

I was inspired to do the monkey design from the old

Game a barrel of monkeys. Brought back some old memories and made me some

New ones...

#8 Camera Animals

I have two problem, at least, when taking pictures of children. For one, I don't always get their attention and two - I don't want to put their picture online. I have therefor created the Animal photo props parade. And hopefully these will at least help me with those issues - other issues with manual settings and stuff, well, they probably won't help with that.

These six animals (is a fish and an octopus considered animals?) are to put on the lens of your camera - then you can tell the child a story or make animal sounds - and the attention will be turned towards the camera.

These sea animals (??) are made to cover the faces - I figured these were real summery and they will go well with beach wear and such. They can easily be detached from the sticks and be props laying around the "stage". Hope you like what I made.

#9 Unicorn Costume

Hey Everyone! I was SO excited when I found out this weeks theme was Animal! There are just so many different ways to go with a theme like that! Ontop of this being a great theme, my beautiful niece just had her 4th birthday and this theme was perfect for her birthday present! (Two birds, one stone!)

My niece LOVES unicorns! I mean LOVES them! So what else do you make for a little girl who loves Unicorns? A Purple Unicorn costume of course!

So I made here a purple jacket lined with silver washable satin, and a rhinestone button closure. Along with a pair of purple pants with an elastic waist. 

The mane and tail were made from yarn and the horn was made from the lining material. The horn also has little purple rhinestones going up the horn in a circular pattern to break it up a little. 

The jacket pattern didn't have a hood so I made one using a sweatshirt I found for the pattern. The mane is sewn onto the hood with each piece of yarn being sewn individually. The Tail was sewn together first then I sewed it to the pants high enough that she could still sit down! 

My niece LOVES her unicorn costume and didn't want to take it off! I hope you all enjoy it too!