Tween Keepsake Board with Crafty Cuts from Michaels

I was so excited when I found out that Michaels was going to be carrying fabrics. They’re called Crafty Cuts, precut fabric pieces in a variety of colors and fabric types (cotton, canvas, burlap, faux fur, felt, tulle, and crushed velvet). I was even more excited when they sent me a stack of fabric to play with!!

The fabric they sent me included canvas (zebra and skeleton key print), burlap (large brown fabric, typewriter key fabric), and a felt (small brown fabric piece).

When I saw the zebra print canvas, I knew I wanted to use it to make something for my daughter. She’s a recent tween (I’m still having a hard time wrapping my head around that) and is loving all things zebra print right now. What tween doesn’t?

She also loves all things tie-dye, so before I made my project, I did a little Tulip One Step Spray Dye action on it.

I had used Tulip’s One Step tie dye kits before with my daughter’s class at school, but I had never used their spray dye. This stuff is awesome! You just spray the color where you want. Voila! You can get the Tulip One Step Spray Dye kit at Michaels, just a couple of aisles over from their fabric.

The black and white zebra print became this:

Which I then used to make this:

It’s a 16×20 canvas that I’ve wrapped with the zebra print fabric. I sewed angled pockets down one half to hold notes and photos and other keepsakes. I added some zebra print clothespins (also from Michaels) in case she wanted to clip something to the fronts of the pockets. On the other half of the board, a corkboard with sparkle gem tacks lets her display favorite pictures or important messages. The sparkle gem tacks are just scrapbook embellishments hot glued to basic thumb tacks.

Tweens’ taste is a little unpredictable, but I think I hit it spot on with the tie dye zebra print and the angled pockets. She thinks her keepsake board is the coolest!! And it was not difficult at all to make.

Click here for a tutorial showing how to make it.

Disclosure: Michaels provided fabric and a gift card to pay for extra supplies needed for this project. They made no requirement for a positive review of their fabric or products available from their store. Opinions in this post are entirely mine.

Next Pattern:

I’m always tempted by the pretty velvets at the fabric store. So much texture! And the way the fibers catch the light! But sewing on velvet is trickier than you’d think. That nap that lends beautiful texture also likes to slip and crawl. That nap can also spell disaster if you cut a piece the wrong direction. That isn’t to say you shouldn’t use buy that velvet and sew it into something gorgeous, you just need to go into your velvet sewing project prepared. And Melissa at Melly Sews has a post that takes you step by step through sewing on velvet.

Velvet is such a luscious fabric, especially for winter sewing projects. Of course there are velvet Christmas sewing projects – stockings, tree skirts, santa hats – but velvet is beautiful for all winter. Think of all the gorgeous velvet dresses, evening bags, hair accessories, even pillows and other home décor that you see all winter long.

Melly Sews’ post gives you the tips and tricks you need to know in order for your velvet sewing project to end up a success. There are types of projects better suited for velvets, and kinds of projects to avoid. She describes the different types of velvet available. And she also tells the best way to lay out and cut your pattern pieces from velvet fabric. Her tutorial also covers marking, pressing, and of course sewing that beautiful fabric. There’s also a video included in case that’s your preferred method for learning.

Head over to Melly Sews to learn how to sew on velvet fabric.

And if you want to learn more about that lovely blue velvet dress shown, she has a post that tells more about it including 2 ways to style it depending on if you want to be more dressy or more casual.

[photo credit: Melly Sews]

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