It's Pinspired Friday! {Heating Pad - A DIY Gift for Guys! And a Pinterest Fail}

I had someone ask me recently... "How do you do it? It seems like most of your Pinterest projects always seem to come out good. Mine never do."

Let me start by saying... no, not all of my Pinterest projects come out good. Some are not even edible sometimes. But it's more fun to talk about the ones that do turn out okay. ;) I thought I would highlight that with one of my early Pinterest Fails - my Christmas lights covered in glitter.

If you've been on Pinterest for any length of time, you've probably seen this pin floating around.

Sorry, I couldn't find a source for this - the click through was blocked for spam. :(

It was so perfect. I had just thrown some old Christmas lights in a fill-a-bag church garage sale a few weeks before. So I figured I could wing it. Glue and glitter right!?

Erm. No. First, your hands and everything gets covered in glue and glitter. Second, I used the only glitter I had on hand, which you can't really tell from this picture but I might as well should of shredded tinfoil with my hands, the size of the glitter I used was far too large. If I was to attempt this again, I would use micro-glitter for better coverage.

So you see? Not all of my Pinterest attempts end in bliss. haha. :) The best thing you can do is accept and move on. Some days it just doesn't work out and some days there is just no creativity flowing. I actually did those lights last Christmas-time and I kept them around... they're awful but I might redo them someday.

So moving on... it's Friday so that only means one thing!

Ladies, are you forever searching for the perfect gift to give to a guy? Why are men so hard to buy for? I've got a solution. It's an easy craft and it's thoughtful.

I was first inspired by this pin last year when I was looking to make gifts for everyone.

From Elm Street Life: DIY Heating Pad

My original thought was for ladies, but then I thought - this could actually be a great gift for guys too! Sore necks, sore backs - these are perfect for guys as well, especially when you use a "manly" fabric.

Is mine as fancy as the original? Nope. But it's MANLY and that's all that matters. ;)
Let's gather your supplies. You'll need:
• A scrap of fabric. My end product is about 6"x19.5", so you'll need either two pieces of 6.5"x20" fabric or one piece of 13"x20" fabric so you can just fold it over. I recommend cotton as I don't know how other fabrics would do in the microwave.
• 2 cups of Rice

You'll also want:
• A sewing machine
• Scissors
• (Optional, but it makes life easier) A funnel.
• (Optional) Essential oils to make the rice smell nice. I left it out.

First, align your fabric. I'm simply folding over one side so it's one less side to sew, so if you think about it, I'm actually cutting a 13"x20" rectangle that has been folded into a 6.5"x20" rectangle.

Cut it out, and make sure the right sides are facing each other.
A good tip for a beginner sewer - for some reason I had the hardest time remembering "right side" and "wrong side" when I got back into sewing recently. Right side is the side of your fabric that is fancy and shows your pattern. Wrong side is the back of the fabric. You'll see the back of my fabric here is grey-ish. We call that the wrong side. Sometimes when reading a pattern you'll see "Wrong side facing out" - it's basically what you're looking at above.

 Line that baby up and give it a 1/4" or 5/8" seam allowance all the way around, but leave about a 2-3" inch opening on one side so we can fill it with rice. If you want, you can pin the pieces together so they don't scoot apart when you sew.

Always make sure to "back track" (use reverse) where your seams end so that it stays strong when you put pressure on that seam (to fill the heating pad, for example.) Take your fabric then and turn the entire thing inside out, making sure to poke out your corners so they're nice and pointy.

Fold your seam in and fill with rice. I used about 2 cups of rice, if you want it fuller, use more, but this was about the perfect amount to make easy seams later on. Sew your hole together by either hand stitching it closed or running a seam over that entire length. I ran a stitch over the entire length of that side because it was easier.

Now that your pouch is filled with rice and securely closed, move all of the rice to the middle of the pouch by holding the two sides up so all of the rice falls to the middle. Then, set the pouch on your table and "cut" the rice in half so it seems that even amounts of rice fall to the two sides. That's what the picture above is demonstrating. The rice is divided in half and rests on both sides.

Mark the middle with a pin and then stitch down the middle. Try to avoid hitting any rice as you sew, machines don't typically like that. Proceed to do the same thing two more times so that you end up with four separate pouches of rice and three seams.

And there it is! Your easy, finished product that will be much appreciated by your hardworking men. This warms up fast - Start with 30 seconds in the microwave and if it's not to your liking, proceed from there, but 30 seconds is about the right time for me (please don't burn yourself!!). I also microwave mine on a microwave safe plate so it doesn't get dirty from anything in the microwave. If you get a little bit of moisture on your pouch after microwaving, don't worry - it's normal. This tends to go away the more times you use the heating pad (as you're basically microwaving the moisture out of the rice.)

Thanks for following along! Let me know how this turned out for you! :) And as always, if you have any questions, please ask! I'll be happy to help.

Also... ***HAPPY NEW YEAR!*** Have a safe and happy new year's. I'll see you guys in 2013! ;)