Valentine Heart Light Catchers

   I am so happy the way this little project turned out, the kiddos and I spent the afternoon crafting away on these cute little hearts!

What you will need:

Plastic (packaging of some sort to cut up)

Scissors

Card Stock to make a heart templet

Permanent Markers (Sharpies work well)

Hole Punch

Ribbon

I saved some packaging this past Christmas~ it worked perfectly. Cut a square out to work with...




Use your heart template to trace onto the plastic. Cut this shape out.

Color designs and pictures on your hearts with permanent Markers. (remember any words you write will look backwards from one side)

Hole punch near the top center

Lace ribbon through to create a sweet garland, or hang them individually like I ended up doing!

{Hang them in a sunny window and enjoy}

   

{Cute} Decorated Paper Plates~

This isn't an original idea by me... But I saw it and had to try it!

Have you ever wanted to take a cute plate of goodies to a party, someone's house, or as a gift to a friend or teacher, and didn't have a cute disposable plate? Well here is an idea that will save the day in a pinch! You probably even have everything you need right there at home~ I did!

All you need:

1. Cheap paper plates

2. Ribbon

3. Hole punch

4. Doilies (optional)

As you can see, the picture easily explains itself... All you need to do is hole punch evenly around the plate, then weave the ribbon through and tie it into a cute bow. WOW, that was so simple! I added a round paper doily to the plate by just looping a little piece of tape on the underside, to hold it in place. Fill this cute plate with goodies and you are set!

Have fun, and enjoy!!

Christmas Garland

This Christmas Garland is so easy to make and looks great on a fireplace mantle or draped around your front door.

I love decorating our home for Christmas with real garlands, so when we got our tree this year, I used the cuttings off the bottom to make this garland.  This is just a simple garland, but it can be spruced up with pine cones, lights and ornaments.

Materials needed:

Twine

Floral wire

Cuttings from your tree

Pruning sheers

Instructions:

Cut several smaller branches off your tree and cut the twine to the length you would like your garland to be.  Starting at one end of the twine, lay the cutting on your twine and wire it in place.  Overlap another cutting and continue to wire it.  Continue this until the whole twine is used, overlapping and wiring as you go. 

That's it!  Easy, elegant and beautiful!

Fall Leaf Jar

The kids and I had lots of fun this fall looking for the perfect leaves.  We were finding them everywhere we went and collecting them for crafts and projects.

This is a simple idea using Decoupage to add our beautiful leaves to an empty glass jar for a candle.

These jars were made by my 6 year old daughter, but it was such an easy craft that even my three year old made one!

Mystery Braided Leather Keychain

I made this keychain for my Dad out of some scrap leather and a really neat trick!

Click here to see step by step instructions to mystery braid a single piece of leather.

Retro Yarn Octopus

This was a fun project my daughter and I did together one day.

All you need to make this cute retro yarn octopus is:

• Scissors
• Skein of yarn about 100 yards long
• 3-inch Styrofoam ball or a tennis ball
• 5 feet of yarn or ribbon, for tying the braids (we used rubber bands)
• Tacky glue
• Large googly eyes (we used white and black felt)

Grab another person to help and head over to this website for the instructions.

Have fun.

Easy Fabric Pumpkins

My mother and I have been making these fabric pumpkins for a few years now, but this year my six year old daughter was old enough to help me sew some too!  I just love crafting with my daughter, she's just like me!

Materials needed:

Orange and brown fabric in different sized rectangles

Sewing machine or needle and thread

Orange embroidery floss

Artificial fall leaves and berries

Raffia

Cinnamon sticks

Hot glue gun and glue
Stuffing

We started with a large rectangle of fabric, then folded it with right sides together.

Step 1. Stitch one side on a sewing machine to make an inside out tube like my daughter is holding in the picture.

Step 2.  Using a needle and thread, sew a running stitch along one end. Pull both ends of your thread to cinch up the material and turn it right side out.

Step 3.  Using the embroidery floss, sew another running stitch, this time around the whole top of your material.  Before cinching it closed, stuff the pumpkin.

Step 4.  Pull both ends of the embroidery floss to close up the top of your pumpkin and tie it off.

Step 5.  Using orange floss, make six sections on your pumpkins by wrapping it around the pumpkin and knotting it each time.

Step 6.  Hot glue a twig or cinnamon stick into the top and decorate with leaves, berries and raffia.

These are some smaller pumpkins I made with my daughter's class at school.

We started with a round piece of material about the size of a dinner plate.

The kids sewed around the edge of the circle and pulled it tight, stuffed the pumpkin and glued the stick and leaf to the top.

Witch Doctor Halloween Mask

My husband came home one night from work with a white plastic mask and said there was a mask decorating contest in his office... 

If you know me, you'd know that I couldn't let this one pass me by. 

So, I collected some twigs from our backyard that had fallen from our redwood trees, gathered up some Indian corn and some raffia and heated up the hot glue gun.

What do you think?

By the way... I won!

This is what I started with

Citronella Candle in a Coconut Shell

We love to eat dinner outside when the weather is nice, but unfortunately the flies make it un-enjoyable certain times of the year.  We have to keep a citronella candle lit on our table and when we burn them down to nothing, its easy to make another one!

Here's what you'll need:

Large aluminum can with the label removed to melt your wax

Large pot of boiling water

Large chunk of basic household or candle wax

Cheese grater

Candle wicks with wire (the kind with the little metal circle on one end)

Coconut shell or glass jar (or anything really)

Citronella oil

Glue

Gather your materials together and grate the wax into the aluminum can.

Boil water in a large pot and carefully place the wax can in the pot of water to melt.  Keep stirring the wax to help it melt.

Meanwhile glue the wick inside the coconut shell.

Once the wax is all melted, add a generous amount of citronella oil and stir again.  Carefully pour the melted wax into your coconut shell or jar.

Let it sit undisturbed a couple of hours until it is completely set.

That's it!  A cute citronella candle for our picnic table!

Grandma's Old Hutch

Just a peek inside my kitchen... I've just finished painting my Grandmother's old hutch to try to update it and make it match a little better in my home.

 

Grandma's old maple hutch before.

Old hutch updated!

And for Halloween... some scaaarrrry silhouettes on my white plates.

All it took was some black paint and some new pulls to bring my grandmother's maple hutch from the 1950's into this century.  Now it matches my kitchen table!

Painted Rock Pumpkins

This is a really easy, cute way to decorate your front porch for Halloween without your jack-o-lanterns rotting before the day arrives!

First we found some large river rocks and the kids painted them orange.
Then I hot glued some cinnamon sticks onto the tops.

Lastly, we painted the faces and some lines to make them look more realistic.

Now you make some!

Fall Leaf Stained Glass

I helped the kids make this beautiful craft this morning after we took a walk to collect some fall leaves.

First we decided on a pattern for the leaves.  Next, we cut a large square of clear contact paper and layed it sticky side up, then pressed each leaf onto the sticky paper.  Then we cut another square and enclosed our leaves inside the two sheets. 

We made a frame for it out of construction paper and hung it in a sunny window.  Isn't it pretty?  I love fall.

A Sweet gift for a new Teacher~

I'm so excited to learn S'more!

School is approaching quickly for us, and when I came across this cute gift idea for my children's new teachers, I thought it would be perfect. I found it on I Share Everything on facebook. This is a great place for printables, craft ideas and more, so head on over there and 'like' her page on facebook! Here is the adorable (free) printable package topper.

Kyah's School Placemat

My daughter Kyah started the first grade today and she was so excited!  Her new teacher requested that the children bring a cloth napkin with their name on it to use as a placemat while eating their lunch.  Well, I didn't want to give up a napkin from one of my sets and why go buy something when I could make it!  Now she has her own custom placemat with her name embroidered on it!

We made the batik a couple of years ago following this fun tutorial.  We had this little scrap left over and used it for the center and the purple corduroy material was from one of her favorite dresses that she has outgrown.  If its good material, we'll use it!

My old skirt = a new dress for my daughter

This dress is so cute, and it was easy to make!

I have finally come to terms with the fact that, after having three children, I will never be a size 2 again.   So... instead of tossing out one of my favorite skirts... I turned it into a dress for my six year old!

I just turned it inside out and cut off the zipper. 

I then sewed it back together where the zipper was and sewed a hem along the top of the dress. 

Before finishing the hem, I slipped in some one inch thick elastic and stitched it to itself. 

Lastly I just made some straps from some thick grosgrain ribbon and two buttons.

That it!  See, I told you it was easy!

Pirate Birthday Party!

My son Oliver is turning 3 soon and we are planning a pirate birthday party in our backyard.  He has been into pirates ever since we took him to Disneyland last spring and he rode the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.  Although he has never seen the movie, he knows all the characters and a pirate themed party was what he wanted!  I bought Disney's Ultimate Swashbuckler Collection from iTunes for some pirate background music to play outside while everyone is swimming and party-ing it up.  I was planning on making my sister's pirate hat cake you can see here. 
Also, here are a few things I made for his party:

A treasure map invitation

The invitation reads: 

Avast Ye Scallywags!
Hoist yer anchors and set sail to celebrate
Captain Oliver's third birthday.
Chart yer course for (our address)
on the twenty fourth of July at two o'clock or walk the plank!
Come dressed to swim unless ye are a Landlubber!
Arrrrrr... ye coming to the party?  (our phone number)

I drew the map and compass and found a scripty font for the words.
I printed the invitations on parchment paper and cut rough edges with scissors to look like it was torn.

Pirate Flag

What pirate party would be complete without a pirate flag!  I lucked out and found half a yard of black felt in the clearance bin at our local fabric store for $2!  I then got some white sticky-back felt in white.  I then found a skull and crossbones picture online that I used as my inspiration.  I followed This tutorial (well sort of) to make the flag.  I sewed a thin pocket in one side so that I could slide in a wooden dowel.  This was so easy to make, and could have been done with no sewing at all.

Pirate Photo Board

 Just for fun, I found a large piece of cardboard and painted this pirate on it.  My kids have had so much fun playing with it already!  I had to put a chair behind it for the little one to put his face in.

Arrrrr!

Captain Oliver on his big day!

I also bought this shirt for the birthday boy and drew the skull and crossbones on the pocket with a bleach pen.  Can't wait to do more bleach pen crafts, this one was fun!

Paper Roses

We made these paper roses for our teacher appreciation day at school this year, but these cuties could be made and given to friends or family you may be visiting this summer. They are cute by themselves or in a bouquet. We put these in a little baby food jar for a few days, and really enjoyed them!!

You will need:

~Square paper (your choice of color) the size of square paper determines the size of the rose. we used about an 8x8 size then rounded the corners...

(We used magazine pages in shades of red, pink, and orange, I really like how they turned out using something recycled!)

~Popcicle sticks

~Glue (craft glue or hot glue)

I found this simple tutorial which will show you how beautiful these can get, and teach you the steps.

To personalize your rose, you can write a short sweet note on the front (or back) of the popcicle stick. Or add a little strip of magnet to the back. Its sure to bring a smile to someones face!

Twin Dolls

My little girl was invited to her best friend's birthday party in another city.  So she came up with the idea to make twin dolls, one for her friend's present and one to keep!  Now they will think of eachother everytime they see their doll.

So my mom had an old (and I mean old) pattern for a Raggedy Ann doll that I used, I just embroidered a different face and sewed on different hair. 

If you want to know a really great way to sew yarn hair on a cloth doll, click HERE.

I used two different coordinating fabrics for their clothes.  One had the green dress and blue apron and bloomers and the other had the blue dress and green apron and bloomers.  The clothes turned out so cute!  My daughter chose the faces she liked from some different choices I drew.  She stuffed the doll for her friend and felt like she really helped make them.  She says they were stuffed with love!

They love their new dolls!