Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Pretty Little Girl's Spring Dress

Needed a quick and easy spring dress for my daughter to wear to my nephew's baptism. Plus, wanted something she could wear next year too, so I made it roomy. Love the fabric! She looked so cute. Unfortunately I didn't take a good pic of her at the baptism only this crazy one of me trying it on her when her hair was all wild.




Sunday, June 16, 2013

Father's Day Gift Ideas

What to get the man that has everything? Pajama pants? Yup, that's right. And not just any pajama pants. I decided to make manly gift baskets for my dad and for my husband.

First the husband. He loves Superman so I decided to take him to see Man of Steel for Father's Day. I purchased a huge plastic Popcorn tub from Bed Bath & Beyond, put the tickets to the movies in there, popcorn, candy, a huge can of Coke, a movie t-shirt I ordered from Allposters and my handmade pajama pants!



My father loves the Beatles, so I decided to put together a basket of some of his favorite things which include Beatles pajama pants, a shirt I made myself, his favorite snacks, men's beauty products and a free haircut at his barbershop.


Want to know how I made the shirt without silkscreening? Magic! Well, almost. It's called Ink Effects made by Deco Art. All you do is pain the ink effects on a piece of paper, let it dry and then iron it onto a shirt. Since I had a dark shirt, I had to use their base coat spray first, but it was pretty easy, even though my pain brush was way too big for the tiny areas I was painting.





Saturday, June 15, 2013

The Best End of Year Teacher Gift

Yes, you read that right. This is the best end of year teacher gift ever! And I'm not only saying that because I made it. 

In fact, the idea wasn't my own. Surprise, surprise, I found this fantastic idea on Pinterest. It's basically a really creative way of gifting a teacher a potted plant, only it's handmade.

I liked this idea so much that I decided to make a large pot for my daughter's teacher and some smaller versions for the two teacher's assistants.

We gave them to the teachers on Friday and they loved them! Who wouldn't, right?

SUPPLIES
  • Metal pails (found mine at A.C. Moore)
  • Mod Podge
  • Plant labels
  • Succulents (found mine at a local nursery)
  • Succulent or cactus soil
  • Gravel
  • Twine
  • An old dictionary (found one at Goodwill for only $2.67!)
  • Black card stock
  • Glue stick
  • Xacto knife
INSTRUCTIONS
First, drill a few holes in the metal pails for drainage.

Then, cut out some pages from the dictionary and glue them to the pail using mod podge. I chose pages that had the words "teacher", "educator", "learning", "fun", etc. I found that it's easiest to cut the pages to the shape of the pail after you've started to adhere them. I used a sharp Xacto knife to do this. Then coat the outside of the pot with another layer of mod podge.

I have to admit, I was scared to re-pot these plants. They seem very fragile and I didn't want to break them. So I made my husband do it. Start off by putting a little gravel in the bottom of each pot and fill it with soil, leaving enough room for your plants. Carefully add each plant and cover it with more soil. He filled it to the top knowing that once we watered the newly potted plants, the soil would get packed down.

Here's what it should look like:


I printed out some small sayings 2"x3" that said "Thanks for helping me grow this year!" and used a glue stick to adhere them to some scraps of dictionary pages 2.5"x3.5". Then I glued them onto some black card stock 3"x4". Punched a .25" hole in the top and added some twine.

I took some white plastic plant labels, wrote "grow" on them with a sharpie and added them to each pot.

I tied my labels on and then watered them. I put them onto a deep dish pizza pan to make sure that water didn't go everywhere until I was ready to take them to the teachers.

Everyone should try this! It's super easy!



Saturday, June 8, 2013

DIY Washer Bracelet

I've been dying to try this project I found on Pinterest.

I used some left over ribbon, ten size 10 washers, three size 8 washers and about ten minutes.


So cute, right? 

Next I want to try adding designs to the washers and use Mod Podge Dimensional Magic to make them look more fancy like this.


Sunday, May 12, 2013

Mother's Day Quilted Cosmetic Bag

At the last minute I changed my Mother's Day gift idea for my mom. I decided to go with a beauty theme. My wonderful Mary Kay sales rep, Charae, came through at the last minute with a TimeWise Microdermabrasion Set. I then headed to the farmer's market to pick up some of her favorite handmade jersey milk soaps from Shagbark Mountain Cattle. Then I made a really cute cosmetic bag for make-up, jewelry, toiletries, etc. I found a few cosmetic bag tutorials similar to this one and went to town!

Decided to quilt it before assembling it.

Added a handmade label with my logo and I was all set!




And here's the whole gift.

What I neglected to buy, was a gift bag. I remembered seeing a gift bag tutorial and a bow tutorial on Pinterest. I'll be sure to show you how it turned out in another post!

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Make Your Own Easter Egg Wreath for just $7

I just couldn't wait until April to make an Easter wreath. Although I thought about making a St. Patty's Day wreath, I'm not Irish and it wouldn't be on my door for long. So I opted to make my Easter wreath early.

Once again my inspiration came from Pinterest. I'm addicted to that website and have decided that if I'm going to waste my time surfing the site for craft and sewing projects, I better actually make some of them. Here's what I saw that inspired me: http://pinterest.com/pin/61150507412674397/. My inspiration wreath was made using Washi tape. I had never heard of this stuff, nor did I want to buy it just for this one project and then never use it again. So I opted for what I had in my numerous craft bins.

My supplies:
  1. One pool noodle to use as the wreath form. Just cut it to size and adjoin it with packing tape to make a circle. - $1.00 (Can be found at Dollar Tree)
  2. Five packs 18 plastic eggs - $5.00 (Can be found at Deal$ or other Dollar Store)
  3. One spool of wired ribbon - $1.00 (I got mine at the Dollar Tree)
  4. Left over curling ribbon found in my stash of craft items - $0 
TOTAL COST: $7.00!

I really liked the look of the Washi tape around the eggs so I decided to add a stripe of ribbon to each egg with my handy dandy glue gun, before attaching them to my pool noodle base. It took some time to get through all 5 packs of eggs, but it was worth it.

Then I started gluing away with my glue gun. Keep in mind that you want to use a pool noodle that is a coordinating color since you will see it behind the eggs. Or you can just cover it by wrapping ribbon around it. Mine was a red-ish pink, so I didn't have to cover it.

I covered just about ever visible spot, but only the front and sides since the back will be against my door.

Once I was done, I wrapped a single piece of wire around the top if the wreath and made a loop in the back to act as my hanger. Wrapped another piece of wire around the bottom to attach my bow.

Ta-da! All done and ready for the Easter Bunny!

Sunday, February 17, 2013

Chili cook-off voting jar

I'm participating in a chili cook-off next week with 15 others. In planning this, the group realized that we needed a voting mechanism.

So, I'm proposing that we use a voting jar placed next to each batch of chili. Each person voting will get a few dried beans. They can drop their beans into the jar of the chili(s) they like the best.

Check out my proposed voting jar. Just made a mock up to see if everyone likes it. Love that it can double as table decor.


I used burlap and twine to cover a mason jar. Drilled a hole in the cap, was careful to sand the edges of the hole and covered the cap with plaid paper. Made a tag from card stock and printed the number on my printed. Super easy project! If we decide to use these for the cook-off, I'll be looking forward to making 15 more.

On a side note, my cat is obsessed with the burlap I brought home. He immediately started attacking it over and over and it was hanging off my cutting table. After shooing him away several times, he decided it would be even more fun to take a running start. Once he got tired, he laid on the burlap and then started attacking it laying down. Can't wait to finish these so I can the burlap out of my house.

Friday, February 15, 2013

DIY bracelet - painted in miniature

I decided to try my hand at painting beads to make a bracelet for my sister's birthday. Who knew painting round 1/2" beads with brushes way too big for the project would be so hard? If I ever try this again, I'll need to invest in some smaller brushes. I used cheap acrylic craft paint found on sale for $.50 each, a pack of wooden beads, metallic stretch cord, metallic accent beads and gloss Krylon Crystal Clear Acrylic spray. Not bad for a first attempt, huh?



Sunday, February 10, 2013

Bangles, Bangles, Bangles!

I am obsessed with funky, chunky jewelry! My sister wanted these really cool adjustable bracelets for Christmas, but they were really expensive. So, I decided to make some. She liked them so much that she suggested I sell them online. So, here you are. Made a bunch an posted on my Etsy store.

I made these out of memory wire and a variety of beads. I really like each of them. It's going to be hard to let go of them.

Saturday, February 9, 2013

Hugs and Kisses Valentines

My daughter has a really small class at school so I thought I would make some cute valentines filled with Hershey's Hugs and Kisses. I used some scrapbook paper I found at A.C. Moore, Aleene's Tacky glue, scraps of ribbon, a Marvy heart hole punch and Valentine's Day cards. Check it out:

1.  Cut 12"x12" scrapbook paper in 2 measuring 6"x9". Glue edges so you make a tube. Glue the bottom edges together.
2.  It should look like this:
 3.  Fill with Hershey's Hugs and Kisses
 4.  Glue the open end. It should look like this:

 5.  Punch a hear through the top:
 6. Tie your Valentine's Day card with some ribbon.

Heart-tastic Valentine's Day Felt Wreath

I searched high and low for a Valentine's Day wreath that would look good on a dark red door. Um, most wreaths are red, so they were no good. So I gave up and bought a few sheets of $.29 felt from A.C. Moore (also scored some $.99 polkadot felt!), found some heart shaped cookie cutters hidden in my cabinets, grabbed a sharpie and went to work. I used the cookie cutters to create my heart patterns, altered slightly to suit my project. Took forever to cut these babies out of the felt. Then I needed a backing for my wreath. Found an empty diaper box and cut out a big circle. Hot glued my hearts on top. Added a hook to the back with a pipe cleaner and attached a ribbon tied in a bow. Glued an old magnet to the back of the bow so the bow would stick to the door and not ruin it.

The final product:

Here's pics of my patterns and pieces:




Putting it all together: