april's craft nest

looking at the sky while bathing

2012-02-06T15:11:00.000-08:00

While "pinterest-ing" one day I came across this and knew I had to incorperate them into my house somehow.

Well this is how:

View from inside the tub looking up:

Now I have something for my little sweeties to look up at when they bathe. Fun! I bet your kiddos would like some clouds too! They are super easy to make. I found that it was easier for me to use the fishing line "sewn" through the batting instead of using the wire called for in the directions. I just used the fishing line as a needle and tied a few knots in the batting to hold it in place.

And maybe your sweeties would like some felted birdes too? ( I have made many of these, which you can see here, here, here, and here.) I explain what you need to need to needle felt here. I'd love to see what you make if you try it!

valentines for our preschooler

2012-01-31T12:01:00.000-08:00

source

Mer Mag came up with this awesome Valentine last year and I've been thinking about it ever since and am excited to be able to have our 3 year old pass them out at preschool this year. I started making them in stages a few weeks ago since I have much more limited time now with an 3 yo and a newborn. I still need to sew on the heart eye patches and candy (need to buy the candy first though!)

I'm keeping all the pieces in this jar because a certain 3 yo likes to play with them!

photos taken my my phone, hence the poor(er than usual) quality

heart garland

2012-01-24T20:06:00.000-08:00

Heart garland for Valentine's Day

This is a gift for a friend of mine who's birthday is in January.

It is made from pre-strung pearl beads with felt hearts hot glued on each side of the beaded string. Simple and fun to make and it makes quite a colorful statement. I added a loop on each end for ease of hanging (which you can see below).

And YES, our baby is here! He was born last week and is such a wonderful addition to our family! Love him!!!

Re-do of fox wreath for Valentine's Day

2012-01-12T21:42:00.000-08:00

One last post before I head off to meet our son for the first time. I'm having a c-section early tomorrow morning. I had to get this Valentine's Day wreath done before the big day though since who knows what life will have in store for me once I have 2 little boys to care for. eeks!

I made a little heart pillow for Mr. Fox to hold as well. It fit just perfectly in his little paws so I did not have to pin or glue it on so that for the next holiday (St. Patty's Day?) the wreath can transform once again.

I had to take the photo with the door open at night because when I went to turn on our porch light I discovered it was burned out and of course when I had time to finish it and take a photo of it, it was dark. Of course.

Anyhow, I ran around today doing errands because I knew I would not be up to leaving the house for a while and when I got home I plunked down for a few minutes and redid my fox Thanksgiving turned Christmas, now turned Valentine's Day wreath. I first saw it one pinterest which led me to this site, which did not have a source linked to it.

What clever person made this (below)?

I want to know.

little love birds on a wire

2011-12-26T13:25:00.000-08:00

This is a Christmas gift I made for my brother and sister in law commemorating their anniversary. I made it from cutting out little pieces of paper in the shapes of birds and their winter wear and a piece of embroidery floss for the telephone wire.

I hope they liked it. It was find to make.

Merry CHRISTmas!

2011-12-24T11:33:00.000-08:00

This is a letter our 3 year old son "wrote" to Santa at preschool. (Note about the green bananas: We bought a few days before and apparently they were taking too long to turn yellow so he could eat them.)

Play nativity from last year.

Our pup.

Wishing you and your family a

VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Our Savior is born!

little felt reindeer

2011-12-20T08:56:00.000-08:00

I first saw this little reindeer on the Martha Stewart Crafts Department blog and thought it was so cute. When I went to Cynthia Treen's esty shop and saw she was selling the pattern for $2.00 I quickly placed my order. (It is now $5)

I must admit, this was not the easiest project I have done, but it is worth it, as this little guy will be given shelter in a very special person's home (who will not be named here in case she sees it!).

I had to start over after I had cut out all the felt pieces and started stitching them together because I did not realize I needed to cut out tan legs as well as the white legs (if you look at the pattern you'll see what I mean). This was my fault, as it is obvious you need two sides of each of the 4 legs! I was out of tan felt so when I went to Michael's on my lunch break they only had patterned tan felt. I realized though that it may make the reindeer have even more personality, so I went with it. Glad I did! I like the way he turned out.

I substituted some colors and used ric-rac instead of pinked edges of felt because I had it and it looked cleaner. I like the little tassels on the saddles. I would have never thought to add those!

My son says he needs eyes, but I decided to stick with the pattern and not add them. Still not confident in that decision, but I need to get it wrapped!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Christmas fox wreath -redone

2011-12-05T20:35:00.000-08:00

I recycled our Thanksgiving wreath into a Christmas wreath.

It just took just a few simple steps: Add snow flake ornaments (from the Dollar store last year 50% off), burnt edge flowers, and of course a blue bow. Of and I can't forget, a little burlap Santa hat for the little fox (which is the only permanent fixture besides the burlap around the wreath).

Simple and perfect for this year!

book page tree topper

2011-12-04T11:35:00.000-08:00

This is our tree topper this year. We have never had luck with store bought tree toppers. They never seem to have a good way of perching on top. When I saw this at BHG, I thought I'd give it a try and tore up my old Webster's Dictionary.

I hot glued an antique broach to the middle of a cardboard piece of paper that I covered with a book page and fine glitter. Then I hot glued silver stars to the rim of the circle.

I added some random bits of Elmer's glue on some of the pages and sprinkled more glitter on them.

I made sure that the definitions were appropriate to some extent. (for instance I decided "vomit" was not a cool word for a Christmas decoration).

I added some twisty ties to the back and my husband wrapped it around the top branch.

Our dog got in on the photo action. He gets left out of a lot of my photos now that there's a kid around! Do you think he misses being my main photography subject?

cowboy party ~ tent

2011-12-04T10:59:00.000-08:00

Yes, I know, I've been very tardy getting the cowboy party -from October- up on the ol' blog. Here is the the tent I made for our 3 year old from CAKIES tutorial. So far he is loving it and I think he will continue to love it as it gets older. He can retreat in there to read and hide from his little brother once he comes along to terrorize him!

I stenciled the moon and stars on the sheet probably 10 plus years ago when I was single and thought it would be cool to make a duvet cover out of it---yeah not so much. Good thing I saved it thought because this was a much more fitting application.

The tent was pretty easy to make...once my husband came out to the garage and saw me struggling with the drill which I am usually adept with...I had it on reverse! Once again pregnancy brain! Ugh!

thanksgiving fox door wreath

2011-11-20T13:29:00.000-08:00

I can't have a holiday pass me by without a wreath or some kind of door decor. I've been using a puny little Thanksgiving wreath for many years now that looks ridiculous on our larger door and figured it was time for a good sized wreath to celebrate fall and Thanksgiving.

I had burlap left over from our son's cowboy party (which I still need to post more about), so I cut some of it into strips and wrapped it around a straw wreath. Warning: straw wreaths are messy to work with! I thought I would embellish it a little more with burlap, (like this) but I liked how it looked plain. Then when a friend and I were at Michael's the other day, she showed me this adorable fox ornament and I knew that had to be a part of my wreath.

I added a burnt edge flower in bright orange.

And added some more flowers made out of this brown fabric (which does not fray much) and some rhinestone buttons I've had for many years.

With a wide satin ribbon to finish it off, I was ready to hang it on the front door. Now I see I should have ironed the ribbon first, but oh well! It's more natural, right?

I stuck everything on with T-pins except for the fox, which I hot glued on so that I can change it into a Christmas wreath when December rolls around. I love being able to re-use stuff!

quick thanksgiving door/wall decor

2011-11-20T07:23:00.000-08:00

Here is a quick idea for a last minute Thanksgiving decoration. I had this awesome round frame I got at the thrift store a while back. I've been wanting to spray it white and add it to my gallery wall, but with being pregnant, I've been hesitant to spray paint much and it's been sitting around.

Sooooo, it became a turkey frame. All it took to make was the frame, a scrap of burlap, felt (use any colors that please you for feathers), hot glue and some letter stickers. I used hot glue to keep the stickers in place on the burlap. If you did not have stickers, a little pennant banner of paper would look cute across the top too.

And there you go! Easy, fun, cute and quick. AND I can still use the frame for other things when the time comes. I'll just pop out the turkey and store him (or her?) for next year.

cowboy party ~ horse piñata

2011-10-22T10:19:00.000-07:00

My 3 year old's cowboy/wild west party is coming up next week so last week, pretty much every evening after work and after the almost-3-year -old was in bed, I worked on this:

I used Oh Happy Day's technique to cut out the shape and tape it all together.

The Safeway produce man helped out by giving me a few apple boxes to cut up. It had a few "air holes" but they were easy enough to cut around.

I free-handed the horse shape and cut it out with a combination of scissors and box cutter.

photo courtesy of 3 year old photographer who kept busy taking photos so mama could draw and cut out the horse.

Cut out 2 of the same shape.

I then used a cereal box (not shown) cut in in 3 or 4 inch strips to bend around the horse's shape and duct taped it all together. The cereal boxes are much more pliable than big cardboard boxes and worked well to go around the bends.

Here is the almost-birthday boy (who refused to put his shirt back on) with the piñata to show the scale. He wanted to ride it!

Heading into the "the barn"

Then came the looong part. I cut folded strips of tissue paper (of varying sizes) and then fringed them while they were still folded. Then unfolded them and hot glued them to the piñata, starting at the hooves and working my way up to the top.

For the sides (where the cereal box was taped on) I just glued on the tissue paper in a strip and didn't worry about fringing it.

For the tail I just cut strips of yarn and tied them together and hot glued them on. The mane is self-explanatory.

And her were are: the final product:

We'll find out if it was all worth it at next weekend's party!

bedroom curtains, oh yeah and lamps!

2011-10-16T21:05:00.000-07:00

I finished our bedroom curtains several months ago (May?), but have forgotten to take any photos. These are not the best, but they will do. Since hubster works at night most of the time we needed blackout curtains but I could not find long enough ones that went from floor to ceiling without having them custom made (btw, 1000's of dollars!). I found the circle print blackout curtains at Walmart of all places (I had to go to 2 stores to get enough) and then I bought some matching (or at least complementary fabric) at an awesome place that sells fabric in a where house-type store. Because I bought so much I even got a discount. I think it ended up being about $3 a yard!!!

It was a lot of work (although straight lines) to iron and sew all these, but it was worth it. I doubled the fabric to make it thick enough to hang properly.

try to ignore the paint job. we are not expert painters and i hardly notice it anymore!

I made the curtain rods from conduit. I've had this idea for a long time, but needed to find the right lengths. I finally figured out the math and the nice man at Home Depot cut them for me (although they said they do not usually do that). I bought the curtain rod "holder-upper things" and my husband helped hang them. Soooooo glad this project is done! It took over 2 and a half years to complete it!

Our house decorating has really taken a back seat to other things- basically, life. Mostly the fact that the husband and I have very different design aesthetics. It takes a LONG time for us to agree on furniture or decor purchases. He's traditional and I am modern, mixed with handmade and thrift store finds. He got to chose our bed frame and his bedside table (here) about a year ago (I chose the mattress here) and I chose my own bedside table, even though it is completely different. We chose our armoire and dresser a few years after we got married and we are both pretty happy with those.

Anyhow, we did not have matching bedside lamps. In fact my husband never has had a lamp since we got married! I can't live without mine since I read in bed. I've been using a milk glass lamp I received as a gift for the past 5 or so years. I still love it, but needed an update and I wanted matching ones to make up for the fact that we have different nightstands. I was browsing through Target the other day and found these awesome lamps and shades WITH a bulb attached!!! Each piece was only:

That means for $15 dollars I got two lamps, two shades and 2 energy star bulbs!!! AMAZING!!! And I got to sneak some modern in there! That's a lot of words for what I am trying to get across! AWESOME DEAL and were getting closer to completing the bedroom decor! Not quite there yet, but getting there!

I did not notice the little price tag under the bed until after I uploaded the photos. Oh well!

His:

Hers:

Just a few more things to add. So in a few more years..... :)

doily web

2011-10-16T16:57:00.000-07:00

I am so excited about this simple little project I came across the other day on betz white's blog. Something about using a doily, which I usually would never do, and pairing it with a spider! I don't know: it speaks to me! Maybe I will use doilies in future projects...well, we'll see.

Here's my version:

For some reason, we are lacking in plastic spiders around here, so I made one from 2 black buttons, some rhinestones (for eyes) and legs made out of floral wire which I "painted" black with a Sharpie.

I spray painted the thrift store hoop white and hot glued on the thrift store doily from the other day. I cut around the doily for the parts I did not want. I thought it looked more realistic off center.

What a great idea! Thanks Betz!

thrift store finds

2011-10-16T16:12:00.000-07:00

I scored at the thrift stores this week. Here are a couple of my finds.

Look at this cute little wooden owl. Anyone have any idea why there is a slit through his forehead? Is this a piece of something else? It makes a perfect companion to the other fall mantle decorations. I didn't even notice at the store, but it is almost a perfect match for our mantle and cabinetry stain. Wow!

He was only $1.50!

I found this doily for 49 cents. I wanted a pure white doily to make this. I already bleached it, but the blue did not go away. That's okay because the embroidery hoop I found at another thrift store (which I have outside drying from painting it white) fits just inside the circular part and I can cut the blue part off (sorry to the granny that labored over this!)

UPDATE: you can find the doily web I made here.

I found a few other things too: flash cards, a stadium seat cushion (I've been wanting one for a long time, even though I doubt that if I put it on the ground right now, I could get out of it with this belly of mine) and this book and a toddler book of potty songs sung to tunes of familiar songs. I also found a box of Martha Stewart glittered blue ornaments for $3.99. Score! I can make another one of these ornament wreaths.

reversible fall pillows and couch update

2011-10-15T16:03:00.000-07:00

We have tufted pillows for our couch! I have been trying to do this project for over 4 years!!! I bought some fabric button cover kits a while ago, but the fabric I chose was too thick and I could not make the buttons so I gave up. My mom was able to get a few of them done, but not enough for all the pillows. Then I decided to make the buttons on the bigger pillows larger and use the smaller buttons on the little pillows. Joann's had a 40% off sale on all notions and I bought 10 more big button cover kits for the large pillows.

I wish I had taken some before photos of the couches, and you would think I would have some, but I can't find any. It makes the couches look more sophisticated (at least I think so).

In addition, I decided to use different button fabric on each side. One is a tweed-look fabric and one is a microfiber (like the couches).

Did you notice the owl pillows on the couch? They are reversible too! My mom came over to help me make them. I still don't know how to put in a zipper (I know!). AND she advised me that the sweater material (made from one of my husband's sweaters I stole out of the to-go-to-charity-bag) needed some support so it would not stretch out. She used pieces of iron-on Stitch-Witchery to attach some cotton fabric on the back. Who knew? um yeah, my mom.

I used pillow forms I already had, my husband's old sweater and I think I bought the owl fabric last year for $5! The only things that were new are the zippers. My mom used invisible ones. From 1 yard of this owl fabric, I made the above two pillows, this bag and two smaller trick or treat bags: one for my son and one of my friend's daughter. What a deal!

baby dolls

2011-10-13T20:19:00.000-07:00

These little baby dolls are made from a left over pillowcase that I made into a baby blanket for a friend at work. I loved the pattern and kept the doubled over edge of the pillow case "just in case." It turned out to be the perfect fit as a baby doll body. I made one for my son (kind of in preparation for his baby brother and he must have picked up on that because he sleeps with him every night now and even called him his "baby brother." Cuteness! Oh yeah, did I ever mention we are having another boy? I can't remember...pregnancy brain again!

My little baby (almost 3 years old!) said that the baby girl was "too shaky" and threw her out of his bed. He does not like her "shaky" hair. The little shaky girl is finding a new home with a friend's daughter. (To tell the truth, I originally made it for her, but then my son said he wanted it, and I thought I'd just made another one for the little girl!).

In the end it all worked out!

The hair is yarn I used for my son's hobby horse. I knotted the yarn in the middle and stitched it on with regular thread. The faces were made from scraps of fabric (cut into a circle and gathered into a ball) I already had and I embroidered the faces (French knots for the eyes, straight stitches for the nose and mouths). I love simple, fun projects!

flower and bead necklace

2011-10-10T21:04:00.000-07:00

Have you seen that fabric with flowers all over it? I can't seem to quickly find an example on the web, (whenever I search, just floral fabrics come up) but my sister-in-law in getting married and her daughter's (our niece) dress is made with an overlay of this flowered fabric. I was making a little pin for the flower girl out of the black flowers and had a few extra flowers to play with. A friend at work was wearing a super cute Anthropologie necklace that inspired this one. I can't find it on the website now, but the "chain" was made from a strip of sheer fabric. I had a scarf from my days as a hostess (my first job) so I cut one up and came up with this:

The beads are from a beloved necklace that broke. I sewed them on between some knots I tied as I could not string them on with a needle (too thick). I knotted some other random places and even sewed back back forth in a few other places. I like the asymmetry of it. I also love that it is lightweight because I cannot stand heavy stuff around my neck, especially during pregnancy!

reversible halloween/fall bag

2011-10-03T20:33:00.000-07:00

I've never made a reversible bag before, but I decided to last night because it seemed easier than another project I wanted to start, but realized it just was not going to happen without my mom's superior sewing assistance (more on that in a week or two when i get the help!). It took me a while with pregnancy brain to figure it out (I know, sad) but I did it after squeezing my eyes shut and visualizing and concentrating harder that usual. :) All I can say is "I did it my way"--don't know if it is the correct way. In fact, I know it wasn't, but oh well, the end product is fine with me.

AND the cute owl pattern covers a multitude of sins!

cowboy party ~ hobby horse

2011-10-02T16:18:00.000-07:00

Our son turns 3 at the end of the month so that means it's time for party planning! We're going for a cowboy or wild west theme. It is fun because we get to incorporate his Halloween costume into whatever party theme we are having! That it until he let's me! I've been saving up some cowboy ideas that I've seen on the web for a while now and since October is jam packed with fun things to do, I needed to get a move on making his gifts and planning his party.

This first thing I made this weekend was a hobby horse. I first saw this tutorial on lightbluegrey (I love that name! and I love Hetty's header!). I saw another great tutorial on dandee, which I loved as well. I combined to two with things I had on hand.

The only things I had to buy were the socks and the stick. I bought the socks on clearance at Target for $2.00 (for 2 pairs so I get to wear one) and the stick I found at JoAnn's (which was cheaper than at Home Depot and the perfect length). I had a 40% off coupon so it cost about $2.00 as well. So for $4.00 I was able to make this hobby horse and give myself a pair of grey (my favorite color) socks!

I stuffed the horse's head and then felt it was not opaque enough, so stretched the 2nd sock of the pair over the top. For the eyes, I used some old buttons and added a hole punch of black paper for the pupil and glued it on top. The yarn I found a few months ago at the thrift store, knowing it would some day come in handy! Since I don't knit or crochet, I had no idea what I would use it for, but that is why thrifting is so great! You just know!

I can't wait to see what our son thinks of it!

bird magazine art

2011-09-26T11:13:00.000-07:00

I realized a few days ago that I had not handmade anything for my niece's upcoming 14th birthday! I always try to make at least one thing for her, although it is getting harder and harder to find things a teenager wants that her auntie can make her! I think it will be money and gift cards in addition to a handmade gift from here on out!

I remembered that I saw some interesting bird art on canvas the other day over at Crap I've Made. I thought perhaps a teen may appreciate some collage art with a twist (fingers crossed) so I tried it out. '

I like how the paint crackled since there are so many layers of paint. I did not go through the extra steps that Char did. Once the paint was dry, I went over it with another layer of Modge Podge (love that stuff!). Thanks for the great idea Char!

I hope our niece likes it!

flash card decor

2011-09-25T10:59:00.000-07:00

I found these amazing animal flash cards in the dollar bins at Target a while ago, I fell in love with the gorgeous photography of the animals. Each card describes an action the animals does (i.e. Dogs beg, hippopotamuses chomp, fish swish, etc). They also had animals sounds flash cards, but since my son already knows the sounds, I felt this was more age-appropriate.

All I did was use teeny tiny clothes pins and pinned them to an orange pom pom strand (from the 70's that my mom gave me a while ago. SCORE!). I teetered a little on the stool and rocking chair while I hung the banner and had a scary moment. I probably should not be teetering on anything with a belly as big as mine, but that was the hardest part of this "project" (well, I can't really call it a project).

I took down my son's flying pig painting with glittered wings that I made 15 years ago to put this banner. It was probably about time!

This is the view my son has from his bed. I hope he will spend many hours looking at these beautiful animals.

Try to ignore the Ranger flag-that is the husband's contribution to the room decor. At least it is graphic and kind of modern!

tiny acorn garland

2011-09-18T17:26:00.000-07:00

I found these tiny little acorns at work the other day and gathered some up. I had no idea what to do with them, but I knew something would come to me....and it did!

A tiny acorn garland!

It hardly needs mentioning how to make it, but just in case, here goes. Take tiny acorns that you or your kids have collected (or big ones for that matter) and hot glue them on to a jute string or rope. There you have it! Easy, free (if you have the jute) and cute!

Happy Fall! Now the temps just need to drop like 40-50 degrees and I'll be a happy camper! It's still in the 90's here! Ick!

halloween tree and bats!

2011-09-17T17:23:00.000-07:00

I found this cute little Halloween tree in the Target Dollar bins for $2.50. I love it because when Halloween's over, it stores flat. The only problem was: What do I do with it?

Ornaments were the answer, but since there is not an abundance of tiny Halloween ornaments, we made some!

My son and I made the ornaments (bats, witch's hats, pumpkins, leaves, a cat and my son made a little flat piece on to which I drew a pumpkin) from Filo dough. It was only 99 cents a package at Michael's the other day!

Last night I spent some time in front of the TV (Six Feet Under rerun) cutting out lots of black bats and hung them up this morning with that sticky stuff you use in dorm rooms (what's that called?).

They make our dull dining room a little more festive.

We're Halloweening over here already!

painted doormat

2011-09-05T13:17:00.000-07:00

I actually had energy enough to do 2 projects! I made 2 painted door mats this weekend. One for everyday use and one for Halloween. I got the idea from Lowe's magazine and added freezer paper stenciling and painters tape to make the design. And mine is way cheaper. I have enough to make 5 or more rugs for under $18 because I had everything but the rug on hand. I wanted to make an Initial rug like this.

Halloween version:

Here's how I did it.

I plan to make one for Christmas sometime soon too! The possibilities are endless!

hello.

2011-08-26T18:49:00.000-07:00

I'm feeling a bit better and have been knocking down my 1000+ google reader "to be read" blog posts from some of my favorite bloggers. wheew! it's hard work. I came across this one today and I had to share. It's a major moc giveaway from Freshly Picked! Go enter!

We found out this week we are having BOY, but these mocs are still rockin'!

pregnancy body pillow

2011-07-03T07:26:00.000-07:00

Hello there. I have enough energy to post this because the project was already done! Hurrah! It is also 7am and I tend to feel better in the mornings.

I made this body pillow during my first pregnancy because my store bought one got tossed in one of our moves. Instead of using one long pillow form, I used two regular size pillows. As it turns out, I prefer the 2 pillow method better--more comfortable and "bend-y". Added bonus, since I don't normally use a body pillow, I don't have to store the bulky thing.

I adapted the closure method. Typically there is a zipper on one of the long sides. I opted out of this for one major reason: I don't do zippers. As luck would have it, I prefer my method of closure better anyway. I did not like the zipper side touching me and with this new method, I don't have this problem. I used the same fabric and made two ties to attach to the open pocket of the body pillow cover.

Is it just me, or is really hard to sleep on your left side all during pregnancy? My left arm gets all cramped up and I need to mix it up!

And since these photos are pretty bad and boring at that, I will leave you with a photo of our child labor program. :)

taking a break

2011-06-23T18:23:00.000-07:00

Maybe you have noticed I have not been around for a while--or maybe not. Just in case, I wanted to let all 2 of you that read this blog that I am taking a break for a while. I have not been feeling great. I have been going to sleep right after my son does and work is torture with 24 hour nausea.

[source]

All this because I creating a little human being. I debated announcing this on the blog. It seems such a personal event. But when I thought about it, so are the creations I make in my craft nest (although not quite as special), so I am going ahead and doing it. So when I feel up to crafting again, I will come back to this space. Thanks for sticking it out with me!

so here goes...I'm pushing publish!

bird nest in a frame

2011-06-04T18:31:00.000-07:00

thrift store frame spray painted white

+ fabric cut from one of my husband's old shirts and hot glued onto cardboard cut to fit the frame

+ nest-y stuff from a gift i must have received at some point. I arranged it into a half-nest and hot glued it on the the fabric.

+ felted blue bird

= a famed bird in a nest for my gallery wall which is in progress.

blue bird with flowers

2011-05-14T08:33:00.000-07:00

I made this one for my girl friend's baby daughter who visited from Seattle this past week. The flowers on the invisible line are from a Hawaiian lei I disassembled.

This one (and the chubby flying one from the last post) is for a nice lady who contacted me about my birdies in Michigan. Hi Tracy!

blue birds flying

2011-05-07T13:01:00.000-07:00

in honor of the fantastic cooler beautiful gorgeous weather today (it was 90 degrees the past few days-ick!):

felted blue birds

and one more--standing blue bird

she looks like she standing in first position-ballerina blue bird.

balance board

2011-05-06T21:44:00.000-07:00

I have been meaning to make this balance board for a long time. I decided to cover it with fabric instead of duct tape like elsie marley since I am lazy and that is what I had handy. Yup, it's fun! On the carpet. On the tile, not so much. Thankfully I tried that out before my son did!

Even kitty cat approved.

banner cheer

2011-05-04T20:31:00.000-07:00

I made this little banner for a little girl in the hospital who needed a little cheering. I hope it worked a little.

I used scrap fabric, made the felt flowers with paper leaves (from an old birthday card) and some ancient seam binding still in the package that worked just great!

I really hope I took off that hot glue string before I sent it off! Fingers crossed.

If you don't mind praying for this little girl K., please pray for her health and emotional well being during this trying time. Thank you!

dyed wool

2011-05-04T20:18:00.000-07:00

We kool-aid dyed some more wool roving! I love it! Cheap, easy and fun! I kind of wet-felted it by accident, but since I plan to needle felt with it, it's totally fine. This was the last of my first order (8 oz) of wool and I got some more in the mail yesterday! woohooo! And Licorice Tree gave me a little cute baggie of already dyed wool for free! How cool it that?

yup, that's a little kiss stamp he got from the library! no, i did not tattoo my 2 year old.

Let me tell you- my son LOVES wool! He had a blast carrying this dyed wool around after it was dry. Who knew that wool could be so much for for a 2 year old. I guess he gets it from me since I am now a HUGE wool fan now that I have discovered needle felting.

He cracked me up when he sat on his rainbow chair (yes, I let him sit on lawn furniture in the family room if he drags in in from out back) and started stacking the wool on his feet saying he was keeping his feet warm. Thankfully his feet were clean!

love those feet! and everything attached to them!

btw, all these photos are completely unedited to show their true colors.

mother's day card

2011-05-04T20:02:00.000-07:00

'cause that's how my mama is! she makes lemonade from lemons.

towel rug

2011-04-30T08:09:00.000-07:00

I have been keeping around some old holey bath towels for over a year in hopes of making a rug from them, but could not figure out how to accomplish a nice looking rug with a crappy looking towel. That was until Sparkle Power! came to my rescue.

Sparkle Power

She made a rug with the towel inside of a covering! Now why did I not think of that? I love the internet and blogs (when they are not a time-suck and give me brilliant ideas, of course).

I have to admit, I love Candace's binding, but I was in too much of a hurry to learn that new skill. I needed it done in a hour,when my son would wake up from napping. Plus I had about a billion other things I needed to speed through during his nap. This is my version.

Sooooooo, I used a pillow case (we upgraded to a king mattress and therefore king pillows a while ago so this pillow case, which I love, was not to be used again on our bed. And I did not think my son would want it in his bed) to cover a double layer thickness of towel (trimmed to size).

Next, stuff it in to the pillow case. Cut off the excess of the pillow case, and sew it shut.
Then run a stitch 3 inches around the perimeter. I won't lie and say that was easy with all that towel in there. My machine struggled and I had to get it back on track a few times, but the ol' machine got through it and I gave it a pat on the back when it was done!

done.

A cushy place to land after getting clean.

happy easter!

2011-04-23T09:10:00.000-07:00

He is risen!

taken with my droid

He is risen indeed!

Thank you God for all you have given us. The sky, the earth, the rain, the sun, my precious family and most of all your life and my salvation.

easter tea towels

2011-04-15T17:10:00.000-07:00

Gosh! It's almost Easter and I haven't posted these Easter tea towels yet! Good thing they are super simple.

All you need are:
* white tea towels. I got mine from Target, but they are also at the Dollar Store
* cute fabric (mine is from walmart over 2 years ago!)
* design (the bunny I used is pretty much Martha Stewart's bunny)
* iron
* steam-a-seam 2 (pictured below)

Trace your bunny (or eggs, or any other shape) on the paper backing of the Steam-a-Seam2

Place it on your fabric

And, just like that, you are done! I have given several as gifts! Fun to give, because they are decorative and functional. My favorite type of gift!

Sorry the pics aren't so great! That comes with the territory of a working Mom. You take photos of things when you can, not when the light is awesome!

HAPPY EASTER!

HE IS RISEN!

easter creatures and wheat grass

2011-04-14T20:34:00.000-07:00

Day 5

Who knew it would be so hard to find wheat grass seeds. I went to 2 stores and called 3 others. My mom called at least 4 stores and finally found the seeds at a health food store. geeez! I was so glad when she found them and brought them to me so that my little son and I could plant the grass and watch it grow.

Day 8

I thought the wheat grass was the perfect setting my newest little Easter friends. Meet Peep.

Here is Peep, with her siblings Cheep, and Cheepie. Cheepie was adopted by a friend today.

Day 9

And here's the Easter bunny!

and his little cotton tail

So pretty with the sun's rays shining through the blades.

By the way, I dyed the chicks' wool yellow using KOOL-AID! My aunt told me about this so I was so excited to try it out. I plunged the wool in warm water then in another bowl heated water in the microwave until it boiled and poured the lemonade flavored kool-aid in it. Then I stuck the wool into the kool-aid mixture bowl and microwaved it for 2 minutes, let it cool for 2 minutes and then microwaved it for 1 minute. I combined several methods I found on the web. I suggest only doing this if you plan on needle felting the wool. If you want to dye wool yarn, there are special tutorials on that. I wouldn't want you to wet felt your wool, even a little, if you weren't wanting that!

The photo below does not show the true color of the yellow wool. The chicks are a better representation on the color.

And just for fun...look what I woke up to the other morning! So cool! The mirror across from our coat closet reflected my son's silhouette on the door.

Here are the (extremely embarrassingly dirty) mirrors.

HAPPY EASTER!

the country bunny

2011-04-11T18:44:00.000-07:00

This is a book I've had since childhood. I did not recall any fond memories reading it, so I was not totally heartbroken when my son ripped it up.

I made lemonade with lemons and made some Easter art!

There were about 4 ripped pages and a missing page or two.

Not a great photo, but you get the idea of scale. The frames were $1 each in the clearance section of Ikea. I got 4 of them, but only used three for this.

As you can see, once I arranged them pictures on the mantle, I changed the orientation of one of them to horizontal. It looked better that way.

HAPPY EASTER!

baking debut

2011-04-10T14:15:00.000-07:00

Believe it or not, my 2 year old son and I had never baked cookies together! Part of this is that I hardly even get to bake anymore, even alone. Too many other things going on! I remember when I would bake these cookies or something else almost every weekend. That was pre-baby. My son has a mini-obsession with the mixer already, so he had a great time. He poured in all the ingredients and turned on and off the mixer.

My son saw this photo later and said, Look spill!" That is what he noticed!

My mini ice-cream scoop and my slipats (although this is not my "true" silpat) are my best baking friends.

You can see one is missing. We had to try them right away!

Yum!

The basic recipe is from Jessica Seinfeld's much talked about book, Deceptively Delicious. Here's her recipe.

This is my (healthier) variation on her recipe. My changes are in italics, if you want to compare.
Chocolate Chip Cookies with Chickpeas

1c brown sugar

½c apple sauce + 1/4 c flax seed (in place of margarine)

1 large egg

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 (15 oz) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed (aka garbanzo beans) (no need to mash-they get kind of ground up in the mixer)

bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 cup all purpose flour + 1 cup whole wheat flour (or 1.5 white flour +1/2 cup w.w. flour)

1/2 cup oats (or 1/4 cup old fashioned oats + 1 "bar" crunched up shredded wheat cereal)

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 t salt

Preheat oven to 350

Beat the sugar and butter until smooth

Beat in the egg whites and vanilla, then chickpeas and chocolate chips

Sift in flour, oats, baking soda and salt
Scoop dough with ice cream scoop

Bake 11-13 minutes, careful not to over bake (I take them out early while they are still soft and I love them this way).
Makes 3 dozen
Store in airtight container for up to 3 days. They freeze well too! Take one or two out of the freezer and put in the microwave for a few seconds-heaven!

Variation: add approx 1/3 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder to the batter to make double chocolate cookies.

I've tried all sorts of variations (soy flour, demura sugar, etc) and they all taste good.
Experiment!

painting animals outside

2011-04-06T20:56:00.000-07:00

With this warm weather we've had the last couple of days we decided to strip down to the diapy and head out back and do some painting this weekend.

We went to see the weed-eating goats our town has "hired" the this weekend and we also bought some little wooden animals (goats, pig,dog and cow) at Michael's.

My son loved painting these goats. I think technically the large one is a cow, but he calls the big one "mommy goat" and the little one "baby goat." Cuteness!

home is wherever i'm with you

2011-04-02T20:40:00.000-07:00

thread art

The inspiration for this project was from Nelly's thread art post (fraufertig), whose work I saw on MADE's Celebrate the Boy series (Didn't you love it?).

Originally I thought I would made our last name initial for our dining room, but since we are working on finishing our bedroom (hopefully that post will come soon), I decided we needed to get some artwork on the walls in there first. I wanted something romantic and ever since I saw this video, I have loved this phrase...

home is wherever i'm with you.

Here is the original song. Love it!

All marriages have their ups and downs,twists and turns, but through it all, home is how I feel about my husband.

hence my thread art for our bedroom:

Okay, let's go!

Materials needed:

1. Piece of wood. Mine is about 22" x 24". I bought a large piece of plywood from Home Depot for about $15 and had them cut it into a bunch of different sizes for several projects I am working on, but you can get just the smaller size you want for cheaper. The cutter-guy was great.He let me take my time figuring out what sizes I want and my son got to see wood being cut by a huge machine! Cool!

2. Paint in desired color. I primed mine and then painted it white. (free since I had it on hand)

3. Sand paper and block sander or power sander.

3. Lettering. If you have vinyl and a cool vinyl cutter, awesome. If not, like me, you can get letters from the scrapbook store. Mine were $5.

4. Thread. Strong. (also free since I had it on hand)

5. Little baby nails with heads. Mine were $1.50 at Home Depot.

6. Hammer.
7. Hanging apparatus. I used 2 of the teeth-type hangers which I screwed in the back of the wood. Make sure that the screws are not longer than the depth of your plywood! You can do this first or after you are done.
8. Map and thick backing paper for the heart.
9. Glue gun and glue sticks.

One you have cut, sanded, primed and painted your plywood, cut out a template of the shape you want to create with the thread. Mine was a "home" or house. I used one of my son's old drawings for the template paper, as to not waste paper (side note: I also use his drawings as gift wrap and cut out pieces of his art for cards to give to family members.)

Start hammering in the little nails all around the edge. I took the cue from Nelly and measured out little tick marks on the paper so the nails were (fairly) evenly spaced.

My little helper.

That red-orangy mark on his index finger? A callous from sucking on it. The other marks? Markers.

I used needle nose pliers to hold the nails up. This helped me from not pounding my thumb and index finger and held it up straighter than I could with my fingers.

Highly recommend this.

The result after all the pounding. I debated if I should just keep it as is....I really do like it this way with just the nails...but I went for it and started winding thread around the nails. I did not have a real plan. I just started in the square and worked around from one opposite side to the other until I felt I was finished. Then I moved on to the roof.

Definitely use a good quality thread that will not break easily. This will save you a lot of heart-ache because if your thread snaps you have to start over. Luckily, I had my favorite color (gray) on hand and it is a good brand. I did not get any photos of the actual thread-wrapping, but it's pretty self-explanatory. Start by triple knotting the thread at your starting point.

Once you are done winding the thread around in one direction, tie triple knots at ending point and at random spots wind the thread around the head of the nail a few times to secure it. Then move on to another direction. Once you are satisfied with the design, tie it off. When you're done with the thread part, move on to your lettering. Use painter's tape to align your letters and mark the center.

This was my scratch-paper-idea-drawing. I used that to count the letters and spaces.

This is the package of chip board letters I bought.

Place the middle letter on your center line and start placing the letters.

It took me a while to decide if I should go with my original idea of a compass of a map in the heart for the middle of the thread art or do something different. In the end, I decided to just to stick with the plan (again). I cut out a heart around the compass of a regular old map and then glued it on another heart cut from thick crafting paper to make it stiff. Then I hot glued it on top of the thread. Of course, you can skip this step depending on what your thread art is composed of.

Take off the tape and you are done!

I'm happy to report that even the hubs likes it! That is sayin' something, let me tell ya!

he is risen frame

2011-03-31T20:42:00.000-07:00

We needed a little Easter in our house. Spring has sprung here. It was over 80- degrees today! From 40 degrees to 80 degrees in a week! No thank you! I need to ease into our sweltering summers (or so without them completely!).

Anyhow, I changed up the insides of this frame from fall to spring. So easy! I found some old rub on letter that I've had for over 20 years (probably even more, actually). They were my dad's from when he did drafting back in the day. I decided the white, almost transparent, letters kind of gave a veiled feeling...like Jesus coming out of the tomb and revealing himself to his followers.

It was difficult to get a good photo of it as there are windows across from the frame and mirrors on the left side which reflected off the lens and made light spots, so I only have one photo that is half way decent.

I used scrapbook paper for the background and cross and a little piece of ribbon I received on a gift as a divider. It can't get any easier than this! Do you have an empty frame you can turn into an Easter decoration?

HAPPY EASTER!

imagine childhood giveaway

2011-03-20T13:28:00.000-07:00

Imagine Childhood is giving away a $75 gift

certificate to their store!

Head over for the deets. The giveaway ends right before midnight on March 21st

felting continued

2011-03-19T15:15:00.000-07:00

I've still been felting with the remaining wool I bought last year for my son's sheep birthday party. It goes a long way! I still have some left so I'll continue to make little wool felted animals for a while. I thought I'd share some of my latest creations.

white fox

buzzing bee

The bee is hanging from my son's bedroom ceiling so he can give it a little push now and then to set it a-buzzing....the antennae are from a little scrap of wire I had hanging around my desk.
It was super hard to get a good photo of this little bee. He is so light, the slightest movement sends him buzzing. What you can't see in the photo is the bee's little stinger is a broken toothpick.

little dog with whiskers

I had to take the dog and bear photos fast--the wind and rain is blowing like crazy! The wind blew the little dog right off the chair!

bear

You may have seen a version of this photo on my ten on ten post... it's where they all start... on the foam.

Thank you for visiting! Give felting a try and let me know how you like it!

initial "wreath"

2011-03-12T13:46:00.000-08:00

I made this wreath the first year we were married (7 years ago) to celebrate our new shared initial. I still pull it out every year during Spring so thought I'd share it.

I cut green Styrofoam into the shape of a "W" with a steak knife. Some of the pieces fell off so I used wire and hot glue to stick it back together. Then I covered the entire thing with ivy leaves from a strand of ivy (probably from the Dollar Store) by poking a hole with the ivy's stem, pulling it out, filling the hole with hot glue and replacing the piece of ivy. I made sure all the leaves were pointing the same direction (up). Then I glued on some green berries. Pretty simple, but it's stood the test of time.

ten on ten

2011-03-10T21:38:00.000-08:00

I've never participated in anything like this before, but when I read on Ashley Ann's blog about A bit of Sunshine's ten on ten, it sounded like fun. After all, I did take today off from work in honor of my birthday (tomorrow) so I could spend time with my little boy! So here we go!

letting the dog out this morning--apparently he likes sniffing flowers

my view outside my kitchen desk window

more sniffing around

coloring at the library

mother goose at the library

naptime felting

started to rain :) love it!

naptime photo uploading

church fundraiser at chick fil-a. my son reading my friend's daughter a book, upside down.

note on my car at chick fil-a saying I had a nail in my tire. trip to costco to get it fixed--an hour and a half later, it was!

And that was my absolutely fabulous day--even with the nail in the tire. Wish every day could be like this!

Thank you Rebekah for hosting a fun link up party!

new and improved craft corner

2011-03-08T08:25:00.000-08:00

Remember this?

It's now this:

I bought a $20 set of table and 2 chairs at Ikea and painted and applied several coats of polyurethane them before assembly.

This is what it would have looked like if I had not painted it.

Then I used the same wrapping paper covered board to lay on top of it. The table has a little lip on the edge--presumably to keep crayon from escaping. It looks like it would be uncomfortable to write on and the board provides a few more inches of surface area, so I kept it.

My son asked me to draw our family. He had so much fun with them after I cut them out. He moved his little family all over the magnet board (really a metal door which has access to the attic). Who knew a little boy would have so much fun with essentially paper dolls!?

He helped by drawing on them...then later scribbling out all the faces! :)

He is getting lots of use out of his craft corner. He mostly draws, but also plays with his felts (that jar on his desk has all the bits of felts that get left over from projects) and other projects.

I got a big ol' roll of paper from Ikea so he has a large surface on which to color. I also picked up the wooden base from which you can pull the paper from, but it takes up too much room on his desk, so I just keep it on the closet. I needed a way to keep the paper from unrolling, so I used my handy dandy tights, turned hair bands, turned paper-unroller.

I learned this trick many years ago: Cut up an old pair of tights or nylons to use as hair bands. You can get a ton of them out of one leg-they are free if you have an old pair with a run in it laying around (and who doesn't?) and they are gentler on your hair. I keep one on my wrist at all times in case I need to break out the pony tail! Try it!

Anyhow, I used 2 of them to secure the paper on the roll. It will not crease like a rubber band and it keeps it nice and rolled up!

fox duvet

2011-03-06T08:24:00.000-08:00

My sweet Mom (Grammy) made this duvet cover for our son for Christmas and I am just getting around to sharing it. I gave her the fox design and she enlarged it (by hand) and appliqued it on the flannel. She used one of our old T-shirt knit sheets as the backing so it would be extra cozy.

Isn't it awesome?! She made it to fit a down throw that we had. It is so warm and cuddly.

Yes, those are bite marks on the crib. When he was in his biting-mode we covered the railings with a dark brown fleece. This seemed to stop it, but not before the damage occurred. The rubbing marks are just from him laying against the rails I guess. This is a convertible crib, so I think the mattress will cover those marks once it turns into a full sized bed.

Our son just loves his fox duvet!

And he still sleeps with his sheepie pillows every night (now that he is allowed to have pillows). He wants to make sure he has "big sheepie" and "little sheepie" before he lays down most night.

one year & reflection

2011-02-25T08:21:00.000-08:00

It almost snuck by me. I have been craft blogging for a year! I began a family blog in 2005. I finally got a little place of my own to create-my craft nest- last year and I began to create on a more regular basis. I did not have to clean up my project every evening and that has been totally awesome! I'm not worried about starting a new project because of the time it takes to set up and take down.

This is where it all started:

Now a little introspection. I subscribe to A LOT of blogs: craft blogs. sewing blogs. mommy blogs. I should really count how many some day. I read them every day. As Erin wrote on the Manic Mommies blog the other day, I have "my regular diet of home decor porn." I love that...and at the same time it makes me sad. Do I really have an addiction to reading blogs or it is a healthy activity? I don't know. By the way, if you are a working mom, you will love Manic Mommies' hilarious podcast.

I definitely compare my blog and crafts to other blogs, although I know I will NEVER be as awesomely creative as Dana from MADE, or as inspiring as Kathleen from Grosgrain, or take fabulous photos like Ashley. I admire all these women - and many more- they work so hard to create beautiful clothes, decorations, and homes and share them with us.

Not only do I not have their talent, I don't have the time, sadly. I am a working mom and I have to face it. As much as I would like to blog full time and even make it into a job, it's not going to happen. As I write this, it makes me really realize that. I did not even know that it was possible to do that a year ago! I will not have a blog with a million new freaking awesome projects, nor will I have a million followers. In fact, no one really knows I am here. If you are reading this, I hope you'll continue on this journey with me.

But you know what? I still get so much satisfaction out of creating and sharing my creations. Learning a new skill from someone else and trying it out on my own is the way I want to spend my down time. I cannot sit down and watch TV without a project in my hands. I can not sit idly and watch my son play if I also am not "playing" with something (unless of course he lets me play with him!). I must create. It is my coffee. It is my joy. It is my passion. I get to create things for people I love. I get to say "I love you" with every handmade gift I give. That is a blessing.

And you know what else? I will continue to pretend that I am a stay at home mom and crafter on the weekends. Because it makes me happy.

My son's little craft corner makes me terribly happy too! It will soon be changing-stay tuned!

UPDATE: you can see my son's new and improved craft corner here.

bunny swing

2011-02-20T23:28:00.000-08:00

If you have not tried needle felting, you simply must! It is so gratifying and fun. Plus you hardly need anything to start. You only need wool batting , a felting needle , a piece of foam and some random bits of felt in whatever color you want as accents.

Licorice Tree, where I bought my wool, sent me a free felting needle, and the foam I use came from my son's couch his Grammy made him. And of course, I have tons of felt bits.

I love crafts that do not take a lot of expensive materials and supplies. What if you don't like it after you try it? But don't worry, your small investment for wool felting won't go to waste. I think you'll like it.

I made another owl mobile for a baby shower this weekend and I got the itch to felt some more. I did not know what I was going to make when I started, but it turned into a bunny. Below is the bunny in progress.

For some reason the bunny seemed to need a diaper and needed to be swinging away on a swing. As you may recall, I love hanging things...buntings, garlands, mobiles, hooks for bags, scarves, jackets...it really gets my motor running!

I used a colored craft stick aka tongue depressor. I cut it to the size I wanted (to fit the bunny's bum) with a razor blade and then poked a hole on each side with a thick needle. It did split the wood a little, but it since the bunny is so light weight, it does not matter.

Run a piece of embroidery floss with a needle through each hole.

And knot it on the bottom of the swing on each side.

Since there are so many felting videos and tutorials I won't reinvent the wheel. Basically you just start sticking a needle in wool and create whatever shape you want.

This little bunny got a felt diaper. I free handed a diaper and cut it out and fit it on the bunny. Then I sewed little "x's" on each corner to secure the diaper.

There!

A little boy wanted to play with the bunny.

Stick a little dot of hot glue on the seat of the swing and set the bunny on top.

Hang it from a tack or hook in the ceiling.

Here is that same cute little boy checking out the swinging bunny over his craft corner. I love how sunny this room is in the morning and how the blue walls and the yellow diaper are so cheery together.

So fun!

A few more felted animals will show up here on the blog soon.

I'd love to see your creations if you decide to start needle felting.

let's do one more heart!

2011-02-13T17:58:00.000-08:00

I used the same technique as this one.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

barn valentine

2011-02-10T20:50:00.000-08:00

Look what my boy is getting for Valentine's Day!

This awesome felt barn was in the Dollar Spot section at Target! The animals he already has, but since he's only 2, I'm hiding them in there anyway, along with a pair of sunglasses and some bathtub crayons.

grow some hearts...

2011-02-10T18:03:00.000-08:00

...on a heart tree.

We cut off a branch in the backyard and made a heart tree from the hearts we made.

With some play dough in the bottom of the vase and some moss on top. We have a nice mantel decoration.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

silhouette apron

2011-02-09T20:50:00.000-08:00

I made two aprons with a silhouette of our boy's profile. One for my my mom at Christmas and one for my husband's mom for her birthday. This is the one you see here. I added an eyelet border to hers. (The eyelet was from a sheet set which my mom made into curtains for my college apartment. Now it is an apron border-I like to get my use out of fabric, you see!) .

I freezer paper stenciled the silhouette first. Then using, an already made apron as a template, fold the existing apron in half (ties tucked in, so they are not severed when you cut around the template!) and lay it on top of your chosen piece of fabric - also folded in half lengthwise. Cut around the apron (template) leaving 1/2 inch seam allowance. Add the eyelet and ties and hem the edges- done. It's a tiny more complicated than that, but you get the idea. If I can do it, anyone who sews a bit can do it. (the below photo is obviously not the fabric I used, but you get the idea)

^ look! I'm using picnik to edit photos- love it! ^

I used bias tape that I sewed on the edge (to close it) for the ties.

Apron in action.
Actually I staged it. Nothin's in that pot!

oops, i missed a crumb when cleaning the counter!

Hope Grandma likes it! I am sure using my boy's head a lot for projects--loving it!

easy valentine's day mirror "decal"

2011-02-06T16:48:00.000-08:00

Yes, another silhouette project without a fancy Silhouette machine! Cut out the head of your favorite kiddo from black card stock. Cut out a few hearts from scrapbook paper and stick them on a mirror with removable adhesive.

Talk about easy.

a few more days...

2011-02-05T21:06:00.000-08:00

...to send in a valentine to a older person in NYC through etsy! must be delivered by Wednesday, so get them in the mail on Monday if you want to participate!

check out the deets here.

coffee filter heart

2011-02-05T09:18:00.000-08:00

Has everyone seen all those amazing coffee filter wreaths (and poofs) out in blogland?! I love them. Here are a few that I dig: parlour home, jones design company, the pleasures of homemaking. There are many more.

And here's my take on it for the big ol' heart day!

Here's a little tutorial on how I did it.

Fold up the coffee filters in 4ths and cut off the tip. I did this in multiples of 3-5 to make it go faster. It took the whole 200 filters in the pack! Sit down in front of a good movie or show for this!

The first few photos were taken at night, hence the poor quaility.

You will get this:

Start hot gluing the folded )in 4ths) filters down on a piece of cardboard cut into a heart shape (I had two thin sheets of cardboard that I hot glued together to make it sturdier.) You could also spray paint it white, but I did not bother. Mine is about 16" tall.

Feel free to give it a trim after all the filters are on so they are all uniform and even.

After ALL your 200 or so filters are secured, add a band around the edge to give it a nice finished look and also to give it more definition as a heart shape. I wanted to use wide pink satin ribbon, but alas, I had none and did not have time this week to go to the fabric store. So I improvised. I ripped a 3" strip of pink patterned fabric. I did not even bother to hem it. I decided I like the rough edge.

Start at the top edge of the filters and run a bead of hot glue for a few inches and carefully lay the strip (or ribbon) on top. You want some overhang of fabric on the back.

After you go all the way around, on the top edge, turn the heart over and secure the fabric (ribbon) on the back. It will bunch in certain areas, just smooth it out the best you can.

Make sure that your points are defined by tightening them up with (by hot gluing it down) a bone folder or toothpick, like so. Not pictured: at the ends of the long strip of fabric (mine were at the bottom tip, fold the fabric over, like a hem and hot glue)

I added a strip of fabric as a hanger. I ran a straight stitch along both sides for the hanger piece, as you can see below. I added a felt flower with hot glue to the top to hide the nail.

Voila! It's done! 200 coffee filters later! (get the cheap kind!)

The best part? Except for the filters, which were only a few dollars, this project was free! I had everything else on hand!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

photo birthday card

2011-02-02T09:34:00.000-08:00

My husband's birthday was a few weeks ago and I made him this card. I asked his mom for photos of him from when he was a child. There were even two birthday photos, so I used those.

I planned on doing more with the photos if he were going to have a party, but he decided he just wanted dinner with the family. Maybe next year!

Since I did not get to see him on his official birthday (opposite work schedules) I left the card for him on his lap top where he would be sure to see it.

I added a paper "present," ribbon and a mini bow to the photo, like he was holding it.

inside:

craft night!

2011-01-30T11:17:00.000-08:00

We had a fantastic craft night last night. A bunch of girls got together at my house and brought craft projects to work on- everything from wedding decorations, to pillows, to bird mobiles to scrap booking to beading. What a fun night. The unfortunate thing is I only took photos before the girls came over! I had the camera sitting there the whole time and I forgot to pick it up... so all I got are photos of food!

Can you believe these are Little Debbie cakes? So cute!

Oh yeah, and one blurry photo of felt flowers.

At least we have the memories and the craft projects as proof of the fun night!

buried

2011-01-30T09:32:00.000-08:00

Look what the hubs did to our pup the other night!

He just fell asleep and stayed like that for over half an hour! All warm and snug with animal friends.

zucchini valentine

2011-01-26T18:57:00.000-08:00

play dough necklaces and tags

2011-01-24T16:28:00.000-08:00

I posted about these little play dough heart tags in my last post. They are super simple and fun to make.

You can even make them into necklaces!

Make them by rolling out the play dough to an even depth and then cut out a heart with a cookie cutter.

Then, with a toothpick, poke a hole for the embroidery floss to go through and spell out a name or initial.

Then put them in the oven until they are not soft anymore at 250F. It took a very long time for ours to dry out--like 3 hours. I guess you can up the temp if you wanted to. We baked ours on a Silpat liner (love them--even the generics are great!)

Then just string them on some embroidery floss or other thread or ribbon. I needed an embroidery needle for some of them.

Next I added some punch outs of hearts and birds (and an initial, see up top) and Mod Podge'd over the entire heart a few times. You can design something for the other side of the heart (where you used a toothpick to write out letters.) This makes them more durable and keeps the punch out designs on.

Of course I made one with my valentine's and my initials too...

This would be a great gift for kids to bring to their classmates instead of candy when passing out Valentine's this year! Fun, easy and the kids can make them!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

valentines for our neighbors

2011-01-24T15:41:00.000-08:00

I wanted to make a little something for a couple of the neighbor kids for Valentine's Day. I saw this play dough recipe over at How Does She? and knew that along with her great idea to use Target's baby food containers, this was it!

I used an old citrus bag to bundle up a few for a larger family.

I'll talk about the little play dough heart tags in another post.

To make the label, I just used my small hole punch around the edge of white paper and then layered red paper underneath. The little hearts are from a heart punch. Then I just "glue-sticked" them on the container.

A while back I bought these cute little pig containers over at the Dollar Store and just let my son play with them (take the lid on and off...). Now I finally have the perfect use for them, as I knew I would never use them for food (you, know the always reliable "China lead and other toxins thing" and all).

We sure had fun with this play dough! And it's true--it IS the best recipe I've ever used for play dough!

two sided valentine's kiss pillow

2011-01-20T20:31:00.000-08:00

I wanted to make a heart for the front door, but I ended up with a pillow! Hey I wanted a Valentine's Day pillow anyway, right?

One side....

Two sides...

Here we go! Another little tutorial.

Cut out 2 large hearts. I used my awesome retro sheet I got at the thrift store a while back. I love the pattern and colors! I made Dana from Made's skirt of out it this summer. I never posted about it because I don't have a photo of it. It's dang hard to take photos of yourself. When my 2 year old gets older, I'll enlist him as official blog photograher.

Okay, back to the tutorial. The heart I made is about 20" at the top. You can make it any size you like.

Use an old piece of brown craft paper (or paper bag) to make a heart pattern. (You know fold in half and cut/draw until you are happy)

Make the pups from felt (this was some cool heather gray felt that I had never seen before!). I added a collar for the boy and a pink pearl necklace for the girl. I made the girl's eye lashes by cutting little slits in a straight piece of the brown felt and then tweaked them up in the corners. I hot glued everything on since I will only be using this pillow at Valentine's Day and won't have to wash it (and it's felt, which would not be good in the wash).

The ear blended in a little too much for my liking, so....

I outlined it with a crayola marker! Use what you have!

much better!

I'm switching to the bird side to show that I added the felt pieces to the hearts before I sewed the hearts together.

I hot glued the pups on, but used iron-on backing for the birds--either way works. After adding the birds to the pillow fabric (again, before I sewed the pillow peices together, I used embrioderly thread to sew around each of the birds, and used french knot eyes, and added some little felt hearts.

Then stitch around the heart, right sides together, leaving a 4" hole to stuff your stuffing in. I made little notches (slits) at the curves and the divit (top) of the heart so it would not pucker--it still did, but not as bad as if I left it alone. Turn it right side out. Stuff it! Hand sew the hole closed and...

Done!

Ahhhh! kissy!

Here's that birdy kissy side again.

It works pretty nicely with our duvet cover. Above you can see where I hand stitched it up. I am not the best at that, but that's okay.

edit: Here it is on our bed to give an idea of the size. I finally had some day light to photograph it.

(yup, we have no art work above our bed...over 2 years in the house and we still need to decorate the bedroom)

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

felt heart for valentine's day

2011-01-16T20:40:00.000-08:00

I made this little felt flower heart door hanger for a friend's birthday this past week. Here's a quick tutorial.

It's made from:

*white cardboard cut into a heart shape (I had some left over matte board, but you could use a breakfast cereal box)

*pink felt (I used 3 sheets of $0.35 acrylic felt). Of course you can use wool felt too.

*patterned ribbon

*glue gun

*needle and thread (optional)

I made the felt flowers pretty much like this (with a few insignificant changes). Although I first learned them from another blog, I cannot for the life of me find the source.
Tip: Start from the outer-most part of the spiral. It will look more "flower-like" and pretty. You can see I tested out both methods below (starting from the inside and the outside). The ones that are tighter start from the inside and the ones that are looser start from the outside. I prefer looser, but whatever floats your boat!

Oh yes, another tip: Sew or glue the flowers? I sewed some (so I could lay in bed and watch TV) and hot glued some. You can do either way. Again, whatever tickles your pickle (so to speak). If you want to lay in bed and not get hot glue on your sheets, sewing is the way to go!

After you have all your flowers made, hot glue them close together on your heart shaped cardboard. Make sure there are no gaps. I think I had about 30 flowers at the end. Just squish 'em on there. I worked from the outside in--made a border and then filled in the rest.

Next, hot glue the ribbon on all around the heart (sorry all the pics I took of this were horrid, so I left them out). Start at the top and work your way around. When you get to the starting point again fold over the ribbon a bit and dab a bit of glue to hold it (like a hem) and then glue the rest of it down.

Lastly, Hot glue another piece of ribbon on the back in two places for a hanger.

Done!

There are lots of places to hang it...it does not have to go on a door.

Husband has still not had time to install a photo editor on my new computer, so still not able to crop or otherwise edit (let's face it, cropping's about all I know how to do anyway). I think I may try out an online photo editing program--I hear there are a few good ones? If you know of a good one, please let me know!

HAPPY ST. VALENTINE'S DAY! <3

xoxoxo

thrift store finds

2011-01-14T16:16:00.000-08:00

I thought it would be fun to share some of the goodies I find at thrift stores. I went to a lot this week--during my lunches and even today! So fun!

This loot is from a local thrift store that we went to today:

Wooden Elephant $0.75

~ needs a new paint job-I'm thinking glossy gray-he's kind of gray-blue now~

Phone my son would not put down: $2.00. I usually never give in, but he had been a really good sport during a lot of stops, so he deserved a treat.

~needs a clean up and sanitization. I totally sanitized his hands as soon as we got out of the store~

Looks like a good read: $0.25

~needs a wipe down-I wipe down all my used books with a sanitizing wipe 'cause I'm weird like that~

pup had to be a part of sniffing everything

an adorable tiny brown leather purse: $1.00!

~also needs a good clean up and sanitize~

The other day I bought a few things at Goodwill.

I bought some fabric for someone else and also this picture: $12.00 (possibly my most expensive thrift store purchase to date!)

I bought it purely for the frame and I did not even look at the actual artwork until taking a photo of it today. I had no idea it was of a bar room! Funny!

~needs a new coat of paint (grey, black, white?) and new art work~

At another local thrift shop I bought this sweater: $2.00

~the plan was to felt it to make some sweet Valentine's birdies, but I don't know that I'll be able to do that to such a sweet sweater~

I'm mean, look at those flowers?

I also bought this scarf: $1.00.

~I have no idea why, but something told me not to pass it up, so I listened~

Oh yes, I also bought the cutest little 3T sweater for my son and several books for him. The sweater is in the wash and the books are in his room where he's napping so I'm not messin' with that to get pics! ;)

So that's my thrift store round up this week. The next time I score at the thrift store, I'll post again.