mini book fabric covers

For girls camp, the girls in my ward (church) really wanted mini Book of Mormons! (You could make this project for any little notebook or journal you wanted to cover.) I got to make all of them for the girls! I was so excited because I love to do this kind of stuff! I would totally recommend making some for Christmas gifts, bdays, fun things to give to family, Young Woman's groups or whatever! I learned a few tips from making alot, so I thought I would share!

-I got the pattern from Little Miss Suzy. She did a great job on her tutorial! I would check it out for directions and a pattern on how to make the books! The only thing I added was an interfacing for a thicker book :) But making 32 BOMS I picked up a few tips! Here is what I learned!

-1/4 of a yard will make 2 BOM covers.

-I would recommend a magnet roll for closures. 

-I would recommend Iron on Interfacing for a layer after the fabric, and then apply your Heat and Bond material.

-ribbon, I used regular ribbon and hot glued it to the fabric. 

I precut all my fabric so it would be easier to make everything and get all the materials stuck together before I cut the pattern.
-fabric 18x8
-iron on interfacing 18x7.5
-heat and bond 18x7.75

 I made the heat and bond a little bigger than the iron on interfacing so it would make the materials underneath super secure.

1. Iron on your iron on interfacing to the wrong side of the fabric (not the pretty side.)

2. Then iron on the heat and bond on top of the iron on interfacing. After I ironed everything, I used the pattern to cut out the fabric.

If you are going to do a book mark, put it on before you iron the cover onto the BOM.

I was on a budget making these books so I used regular thread, and hot glue gunned them to the fabric before I ironed on all the fabric to the book.

When you add on all your nick nacks and doo dads...iron on your fabric cover. I recommend not using any steam. Make sure to fold your flaps over last so you have a clean edge at the top and bottom of the books, and not a cut edge.

After ironing, when the book is still hot, bend the excess fabric for the flap over the book and put a weight on top of the flap. That way when the heat wears off, your books flap will cool down in folded position and stay.

I used magnets for the closuers. I wanted an easy way to close the books. I used a roll of magnets and cut them to the length of the book. (1 large roll at Joanns was barely enough for 32 books) Even though the magnet back was pre sticky, I used tacky glue to solidify the magnet to the fabric of the book. I also used a weight again on the book to hold the magnets in place till the glue dried. ( I would not use a glue gun to glue the magnet down. The glue gets to cold on the magnet and creates a bumpy closure. 

Get a helper if you need it! Hello Kitty is always a big help! Here are some of the finished products! You can have so much fun with these books making them simple, or really embellish them to your liking! If you have any questions or need help, email me :)

easy reversible VALENTINES placemats

Items needed to make 4 easy beginner quilted reversible Valentines placemats:

-1 valentines fabric charm pack
-1 yard of fabric (for back of placemats)
-1 fat quarter (for side ruffles, but if you dont mind having the same back as ruffles, you dont need this)
-1 1/2 yard interfacing

Lets get started!
-all seam allowances 1/4 inch

1. First things first. Lets get all the cutting out of the way. Fold your yard of fabric in half and get all your sides to match up. Now cut out 13 1/2 inches by 18 inches. You will need four of these. If you fold your fabric in half and cut through your fabric, you had 4 layers, so that is your 4 backs and you are done with that step. If you are not comfortable cutting 4 out in a time you can cut one out at a time, just make sure each back measures 13 1/2 by 18 inches.

1.25 Then get your interfacing. Cut out 4 pieces 13 1/2 by 18 inches
1.50 Get out your fat quarter and cut 8 2 inch strips. They should measure 2x22 inches.

2. You will be 6 charm pieces short, so take your extra backing fabric and cut out 6 5x5 inch peices. These will go on top of the placemats with your charm pack.

3. Next, open up your charm pack. Lay out your pieces how you want them. You will do this and lay out 4 sets so these will be the tops of your 4 place mats. Each placemat will be 3x4 charm pieces. You will also include the 6 charm pieces you cut out in these.

-Now it is time to sew, I would recommend only doing 1 placemat top at a time so it doesn't get confusing.
-sew everything with 1/4 inch seam allowance.

-Consider your newly laid charm pack mats in rows 1, 2, 3. This is how I'll refer to them in the directions below.


-also get your iron out and turn it on!

4. Start with row one. Take your 4 pieces and sew two pieces, and two pieces together.

5. Then sew your two pieces together to make one. This is where it gets kinda tricky to remember which piece goes where, so try and make a mental note, of where each charm pieces goes wehre. It really does not matter though because all the pieces are mixed up...so yea

 6. Now time to iron. Turn your row one over on its back side where you can see the seams. Iron all the seams to one side. Then lay your row one back on the table and get ready to start working on row 2.

Now do this for rows 2 and 3.

7. Now that you have finished sewing together rows 1, 2, 3, you are ready to sew them all together. Get out your pin cushion.

8. Pin rows 1 and 2 together pretty sides of fabric facing each other. Make sure you line up your seams together so when you see them right side out it will look nice. Then sew it together.

9. Iron your row 1 and 2 seam.

10. Pin row 2 to row 3 pretty sides together lining up your seams.

11. Iron your row 2 and 3 seam flat.

**Now your are done with your first place mat top! Repeat steps 4-11 to finish your other place mat tops!

 12. After you are done with all 4 of your tops, now it is time to put your placemats together! Take 1 top and one bottom and put them pretty sides together. Then place the interfacing on top of the back of the fabric. This is how you will lay them to pin them together.

 13. Pin your 3 pieces together and sew only along the 2 long 18 inch sides with a l/4 seam allowance.

 14. When you finished sewing the 2 long sides, flip the place matt right side out.

15. Iron your placemat so it is flat and pressed nicely.

16. Now it is time to turn under the edges on both sides of the placemat 1/4 inch. Turn in it, on the inside so the outside has nice clean edges. If you dont want to make a ruffle, sew up the sides and you are done! If you want to make a cute ruffle, keep following the next steps!

 17. Grab your 8, 2x22 inch strips. Iron each of the short 2 inch sides down 1/4 inch.

 18. Then iron each strip in half. This will be your ruffle. If you are not comfortable making a ruffle on your own, do 2 gathering stitches at the open end of your ruffle and gather it to create the the ruffle.

19. Now time to start putting your ruffle in the 2 short sides of the place mat, one side at a time.  Pin the ruffle inside the sides by starting on the left. Put in the ruffle and pin it, and start to do some folds to make it look ruffle like. Make sure your pining through both sides of the fabric so they back of the place mat will look nice when sewn to. Then pin the right side, so the middle is out and work your way in.

20. After you are all finished pinning, sew. Sew right along the edge on this one. It will create a clean finished look! Wahoo, you are all done now!

Dont mind the apple border, its cute but not my style.... :)

Chocolate Covered Valentines Rice Crispy Pops

Here are the supplies you need! First you need to make rice crispy treats, or buy already made ones. One batch of rice crispy, makes about 12 medium sized hearts. If you dont have a recipe for rice crispys use this:

Rice Crispys-

Need: 1/4 stick of butter, 40 large marshmallows, 5 cups of rice crispys

Directions: Put 1/4 stick of butter in big pan on stove until it melts. Then add marshmallows until they become a new sticky form and stir in rice crispys. Put the finished mix in a greased pan to cool off.

1. Make rice crispys (or buy already made rice crispy treats) and use your heat shape cutter to cut out the hearts. Dont mind the orange, I used orange marshmallows....

 One batch of rice crispys will make about 12 hearts.

2. Melt your chocolate. While you are melting the chocolate in your melter, or microwave, get out your pan of already cut out hearts to start to make holes in them for the candy sticks. If your chocolate is not melting great, add 1/2 tbsp of crisco to help soften your chocolate. ( you could forget the candy sticks all together and just dip half the heart into chocolate. That would be really cute!)

 3. While the chocolate is preheating, poke the sticks where you would want them to be in the rice crispy. Do this for all of your hearts.

4. When your chocolate is melted,  put your stick end in the chocolate, and then put it into the the hole in your rice crispy. Do this for all of the rice crispys, and then put them in the fridge for about 10 minutes. By putting the sticks in chocolate, it will harden and hold on to the rice crispy so when you dip the whole thing in chocolate, it wont fall off the stick and get lost in the yummy chocolate.

5. Now time for the fun part! Dip the entire rice crispy into the chocolate, and then decorate! Sprinkles are always great! Or you can use the opposite color of chocolate to drizzle on the other color.

Eat and enjoy! The best part :)