*Project by Chrissy @  There are UFO’s under my stairs for the Boys Challenge of season 12*

*Project by Allie @ Miss Lovie Creations for the Boys Challenge of season 12*

Here you can see the tree straps a little closer and the gathered ends of the hammock. I sewed several lines of stitching on the ends to reinforce its strength. For the tree straps, I sewed boxes with Xs (also with several lines of stitching) to create the loops in the webbing of the tree straps so that they were strong enough to hold a person’s weight. The hammock straps are connected to the tree straps by a carabiner (Be sure to use real carabiners that will support a person’s weight!). As you can see in the picture on the right, the hammock is actually very wide (almost 60 inches!) so he can lay diagonally in it and lay mostly flat.

*Project by ChiWei @ One Dog Woof for the Boys Challenge of season12*

*Project by Meg @ Mega Crafty for the Boys Challenge of season12*

When I saw the theme “Let’s Hear It For The Boys“ the first thing I thought of was to make something for the little boy in my life… my nephew. Ok to tell you the truth this was really the second thing I thought of, the very first was the 80′s song from Footloose (and it’s been stuck in my head ever since). But a project for my nephew was the first crafty thing I thought of, so the 80′s song doesn’t really count.

My nephew is at the age where kids start to get their first bikes. I’m not sure if any of you have priced out toddler bikes recently but they are kind of expensive for something he’ll probably grow out of by next summer. So when I found a bike at a tag sale for just $5, I bought it and decided I could give it a makeover.

He loves dinosaurs and the shape of the handlebars reminded me of a dinosaur’s jawline, so I decided this little blue bike should become a Dino-Bike.

My husband took the tires and seat off so I could paint the frame. I sprayed it with two colors then hand detailed the dark green stripes. I drew, cut and painted the dinosaur head that was inspired by the handlebars, then attached it to the front. Last but not least all the paint was sealed and the bike was reassembled.

I can’t wait to watch my nephew learn to ride his very own dino-bike!

*Project made by Erin @ Erin’s Creative Energy for the Boys Challenge of season 12*

Most crafts are geared towards women.  Crafting in general is geared towards women.  I was very excited to participate in this week’s theme of, “Let’s Hear It For The Boys,” so I could show off something that you can do for the man in your life.  I made custom cufflinks, some of which are definitely geared for my husband.

Did you know that you can purchase cufflinks without anything on them?  I didn’t realize that until a few weeks ago.  I was so excited because buying a pair of cufflinks is SUPER EXPENSIVE!  This was a much cheaper alternative.  Each pair came out to just under $3!!!  That is way better than spending $50-100 a pair in a store.

At that price, you can afford to make a set for that special guy in your life.  Here are just a few of the ones I came up with…most of them from objects I had around the house.

Baseball cufflinks, made from a real baseball.  The Golfer cufflinks, made from a real golf ball that was laying around the house.  The legos were donated to my crafting cause from a neighbor kid and I spent less than $1 for 6 bobbers to make up the Fisherman cufflinks.  The ideas really are infinite when it comes to ideas on making cufflinks.

*Project by  Amber @ Mule ‘n Nag Crafts for the For the Boys challenge of Season 14*

Our oldest is a tall, skinny boy.  Nothing ever stays on his bum.  When he moves up in a size length-wise, he spends the following months pulling up his pants every few minutes.  I’m ashamed to say before this week’s challenge, we’d just safety pin his pants until they fit properly. (I know, I know, shameful).

With the opportunity of this challenge, I wanted to make him some belts.  But, not just any belts… they had to be special, awesome, super-cool belts that he could wear to kindergarten in the fall (I can’t believe he’s THAT old?  Why must it go SO fast?).  So, I went to him, told him I wanted to make some belts.  I had this sweet idea (which I still might do for him in the future) for themed belts, but he wanted to pick the ‘type,’ and since their his belts, not mine.  His ideas won.

He was so excited about his new belts.  We started taking this pictures soon after they were made and he was jumping up and down.  Victory!    The best part about creating for my kids is seeing the reaction on their faces.  My eldest boy’s was priceless.  He pretended to be a jedi, baseball player and superhero all in a matter of minutes.  Sweet.

Far Away Galaxy Belt and Hey Batter Belt (he actually named it something else, but that might be too much of a hint of my identity) are made a similar away.  My boy picked out the fabric, I sewed it onto some nylon webbing, and added a couple D-rings to one of the ends.  The Bat Belt is what I’m particularly excited about.  I traced all those little bats out of felt and fused them to the nylon webbing.  With that, he became the owner of three belts (3 times more than he had before!)

Since he couldn’t wear them all at once, and he also had a few homemade ties (guilty) laying around, I also made a storage rack.

A little bit of wood trim, paint, c-hooks, and screws makes life in my boys’ closet a little less chaotic.  It’s the simple things really…:)

*Project by Camille @ Sugar Baby Boutique for the For the Boys challenge of Season 14*

Guys. This was seriously the hardest challenge for me!! I know NOTHING about boys! So, I thought and thought and thought and then suddenly the projects were due and I still had no idea about what I was going to do. GAH! Then it struck me. Even though I don’t have any baby boys I have lots of fun friends having boys. So, what do baby boys like?? haha I tried to think of the most boyish animal & color I could and I came up with this little cutie.pa.tootie. I made him with liquid stitch because my sewing machine is out of commission at the moment but it worked just fine! So if you don’t have a sewing machine don’t fret. And somehow my computer lost all of my tutorial photos, minus the pattern pic. So that will have to do for now… And here he is…I picked out the manliest fabric I could find in my stash of florals and pinks

I drew up a pattern of what I wanted our little shark stuffie to look like and then cut out the pieces. Pieced them all together using liquid stitch and voila! PS I made a better/easier patter once I had played around with other fabric that I will be posting on my blog after the voting is over

*Project by Valerie @ Occasionally Crafty for the For the Boys challenge of season 14*

If you are the mom of a boy, then it is likely that he is now or someday soon will be obsessed with Star Wars.  If it hasn’t happened yet, prepare yourself–it most likely will.  Even if you never show them the movies, somehow, they will learn about light sabers  Luke and Han Solo, and of course the big baddy himself- Darth Vader.

My oldest son is no exception:   he’s learned how to turn almost anything into a light saber  only wants to check out Star Wars books from the library, and tells everyone he meets about all the characters and what they do.  So, when I heard the theme for this week was “For the Boys”, I knew I had to make something Star-Wars related.  Here is my Darth Vader Stenciled Shirt.

I sketched out a Darth Vader head, based on some different clip art images I found online.  Once I had a sketch I was happy with, I traced it onto freezer paper.

Normally I would use my Silhouette to cut out the stencil, but I’m having trouble with my blade.  Since I was on a deadline, I used the old-fashioned method:  X-acto knife and a cutting board.  I cut out all the parts that I wanted to be painted.  Then I ironed the freezer paper onto my t-shirt.  I used two coats of black fabric paint to fill in all the openings, and when it was dry to the touch, I peeled the freezer paper off to showcase my design.

My son LOVED his shirt.  Knowing it would look even cooler on a black background, I made him a matching pillow for his bed.

Now, can I use a Jedi mind trick to get you to vote for me?  May the force be with you!

*Project by Kim @ Maiden D’Shade for the For the Boys challenge of season 14*

Hello! I’m happy to be here for week 2! Did you know that paper models (for things boys like) are becoming really popular? Well, I thought I’d try one. I’ve been wanting to make something using the phrase “I Love Airplane Noise” ever since I saw it on a bumper sticker at a gift shop at an airplane museum. Come to think of it, I’ve been to several airplane museums. There’s one that fly WWI aircraft during the summer months. They put on quite a show! When I saw paper model plans with printables for a 9-cylinder airplane engine with propeller, I thought that would go perfectly with the phrase! So I set out to make something my husband could keep in his office:

Here’s what I did: I downloaded the plans (and rearranged the layout) of all the parts and also enlarged everything by 200%. For my first model I didn’t want to work with small pieces. Plus I wanted a bigger engine   I had it printed on uncoated 80lb cardstock so that it was firm.

I won’t lie… this took longer than I thought. Cutting, scoring, folding, gluing… But it’s really amazing to take something flat like paper, and end up with a 3-dimensional model! Well, except for some carbon fiber for the rods. And glue. But it’s mainly paper!

I cut a 14 inch wide piece of a 1×10 pine plank, routed the edges and stained it.