Halloween Banner

I just had to make one for Halloween!!!

(sorry for photo quality, have had some gloomy days)

Such a great way to use up some extra fabric. (Or a great excuse to buy some more!)

I cut the letters out of felt and sewed on with the machine. 

I just love festive banners!!

Here are some other fun banner ideas/examples!

Eighteen25  (have you checked this site out?? Great Halloween ideas posted everyday!!!)

Tatertots and Jello

Crafty Chicks

Cheesecloth Ghosts!!

{I have been wanting to put up some Halloween ideas for such along time.

So excited the season has finally arrived!!! }

A couple of years ago for my ward's Super Saturday, I was given the assignment to make and help assist others make cheesecloth ghosts. This idea comes from none other than Martha and is such an easy and fun decoration to get you into the Halloween spirit. Some of you may have even made these in Elementary school. I figured my blog wouldn't be complete without a little post about these ghosts!!

So...... if you are interested.... here are the steps

First off you need to gather these supplies

Next you will need to make the "body" of your ghost. This is the one that I used to make mine but you can use whatever you want!

As you can see for this one I used a toilet paper roll. You can also use a paper towel roll or a water bottle depending on the size of the ghost you want.
With the body established, you can now add your arms. We used straws which worked really well. I have also seen pencils or wire used, so it's up to you. 

Then I made the head out of aluminum foil and stuck it in at this top. (note.. I put a piece of saran wrap over top the foil to prevent the foil to stick to the cheesecloth)
Next, tape it down to a piece of cardboard or something that could act as a temporary base. (cutting strips at the end of the roll made it possible to fold out and tape down a lot easier)

Now for the messy part. Get your cheesecloth (which is practically the same thing as gauze which can be found at any grocery or craft store) and drape it over your "body". Do this before the glue so you can plan out how you want it to look. Then take the cheesecloth off and drench it in glue. The more the glue, the stiffer the ghost. I have seen some people apply glue to the cheesecloth while it was on the "body" and others, including me, put it on after. There are many ways you can do this (dipping it into a bowl of glue, folding it up and then pouring glue on) Basically, whichever way works.

Now, if you didn't do it earlier, drape the saturated glue on the "body" and form it however you like. 

Next add the eyes. I used felt for mine, however marker, paper,stickers etc.. can work as well. You can also add a mouth if you like. Let dry overnight or for about 5 hours.

 After ghost is dry, remove the ghost from the base as well as the "body" and you are done!!

Despite being stuffed and squashed into storage year after year, my ghost has kept its form and remains one of my favorite decorations!
I have been wanting to make a little ghost family but we will see if that ever happens!!

Fabric Pumpkins

Have you made yourself some fabric pumpkins yet this year??

I have been wanting to for along time now and finally, thanks to my awesome crafty friend, I made some!!

I used the tutorial over at the Idea Room and they were a lot of fun to make!!

Such a fun project to get you into the fall season!!

I love this time of year!!

S.L.A.C.K.E.R.

Yep, I have been a craft slacker....

#1 reason- August was not the nicest to us. After my two year old son broke his precious little arm, we all endured colds and later on the stomach flu.

#2 reason- My current "project" -

{baby #2 coming Feb 2011}

One I know will turn out just perfect

#3- Lazy and tired..... {see reason #2)

Luckily, I am getting my energy back and have even pulled my sewing machine out for a craft or two. Also, for some crazy reason, I decided to make a felt playhouse for my boy for Christmas. I am in the not so fun cutting stage but it is turning out pretty dang cute and excited to see how it turns out!!! (All I have to say is he better like it!) Pictures to come soon!

For now, here is a Table Runner Tutorial I found over at Diary of a Quilter

This is a project I have started on and have hopes to get done before fall is over. I have a feeling I will want to make one for each holiday!!

U create just posted many examples of those who followed this pattern!! So so cute!

Enjoy

Fathers Day Cards

Here is a fun Fathers Day card idea (Thanks to Martha) I found the idea and directions here

(if the directions confused you... don't worry, the confused me too!! Just search on YouTube for instructions on how to fold an origami shirt- there are so many out there!! That helped me)

Anyway here are some of the ones I took to a card party!!

Can't wait to give some away to the wonderful men in my life!!

here are some other fun card ideas

here,

here, 

and 

here

Festive Banner

Currently I am obsessed with making banners. My talented friend made me a banner similar to this for St Patrick's day and I have been dying to make one ever since

Since tomorrow is Memorial Day, I thought is was appropriate to get it out the one I made for the Fourth, hang it up and make a post of it!

This was SO simple

trust me, you can make it

To make it the way I did 

All you need is

Coordinating Fabric

 Thread

and Bias Tape

Cut your fabric into triangles

Place triangles in your Bias Tape

Pin in place

Sew Across

*I used 8 triangles but you can use as many as you like. Big or small/ Long or Short

Have fun!!

(and expect some more of these from me in the near future!)

Happy Memorial Day!!

Line of Authority

Need a gift idea for you husband, father, brother etc... for Father's Day?? 

I posted this idea right when I started my blog when pretty much the only person reading it was my mom so I thought I'd post it again- this time with pictures! (I erased the earlier ones if you didn't notice)

For Christmas last year I gave my husband, dad, father in law and brothers a framed copy of their Priesthood Line of Authority. If you are not LDS, this may not make much sense to you but basically a document that shows who ordained an individual and who in turn ordained them and so on back to the Lord. Read more about it here. They all LOVED it, something so personal and unique. I became fascinated with them as I was putting them all together. Something very special for them to have record of!

If you are interested here is who you email: lineofauthority@ldschurch.org  -Send them your name/ persons name you are requesting and your address. If you are requesting your dads for example, they will have to mail it to his house- but they can address it to your mom or someone else in the home to keep it a secret!!

Once I got the document in the mail I re-typed it, printed it on card stock, threw a little ribbon (manly ribbon) on and placed it in a frame.

I think this with a tie would be a cute gift for Fathers Day!

Here is an example

Birthday Wreath

Anyone have any birthdays coming up?? 

Well if you are like my family- EVERYONE's birthdays are in April and May.

I am a big fan of wreaths and just fell in LOVE with a new one found over at How Does She.

They have a great tutorial for making a beautiful colorful Birthday Wreath

This project is definitely going to be added to my "crafty" To Make List.

Such a great idea

Go check it out

Last Minute Easter Ideas

Here are a couple things I was able to make for my little guy just in time for Easter

Some felt finger puppets- (just like my brown bear brown bear finger puppets)

Quick and easy

Some Easter bunny attachments for his Mr Potato Head-

and then a T shirt to wear as he is hunting for his eggs!!!

Show off those baskets!

St Patricks Day was a lot of fun... but the minute its over- i'm so over it and ready to celebrate Spring and Easter!!

 This year I got some new Easter baskets and thought they were too cute to keep in a corner or closet until Easter so I decided to tie them onto my chairs with ribbon.

I used two types of ribbons- including this one

Thought it added some extra texture!!

I was happy with how they turned out- Just a fun way to enjoy them all season!

$3 Wreath

I have been wanting to make a wreath for Easter for awhile and while browsing through the dollar store last week I came upon a material I have never used before...

MOSS

I have always been a fan of all the moss wreaths, topiaries etc from Pottery Barn and have wanted to try to create one myself

so I decided to give it a try

The best thing about this wreath, is it cost me $3

$1 styrofoam wreath

2 bags {$1 each} of moss

{I didn't even use all the moss}

Now dollar store moss isn't the greenest moss I have ever seen, but it works... at least I am pretending it does

So all you do is get your styrofoam wreath

and place it over a towel or table {just not the carpet}

{if your wreath is not green like my classy high valued one, it may be wise to spray pain green, so the white doesn't show}

Get your hot glue gun and moss & go to town!!

I tried to cover every inch, even on the back

Sometimes I had to do a layer of glue on top of the moss to cover up the spots

Then take some Spray Adhesive {heavy duty hair spray}

and spray the wreath down.

Now attach a bow, little eggs, flower, ribbion hanging from top etc... and your done!!

There are so many ways to decorate this wreath... so let me know how you do it if you make one!!

Celebrating St Patricks Day

Hey everyone.... so if you haven't heard- I am guest posting over at Tatertots and Jello today- and it's ALL about St Patricks Day!!! Click here to check out some of the crafty ideas I posted over there-

So now that we have decorations, shirts and pot's of gold covered- lets move onto traditions!!

Traditions-

As I mentioned before, St Patricks Day was a big deal for us and we have a lot of traditions that I would LOVE to share

Morning-

First, when we would wake up in the morning there would be a trail of shamrock confetti from our beds  to our little Leprechauns filled with treats that were somewhere hidden in the house.

During the night, the leprechaun turned many things green- the milk, toilet water, water, bread etc...

We always had fun running around seeing what he turned green.

My wonderful fun aunt also shares the same love as me for this fun holiday and also has some great ideas... seriously, it is her favorite holiday!!!

When my cousins were young, my aunt would sneak into their rooms at night and paint footprints on their faces and arms and hands (She used a q-tip dipped in green food coloring). It was just her way of starting the day off with excitement!

Attire-

We of course loved getting dressed up in our green- this of course is a must-   Green wigs, blinking head gear/ jewelry, googly glasses, arm socks etc

Basically- the tackier, the better!!

 One fun idea is to collect a bunch of outrageous green hats and have everyone wear them for dinner!!

(here are some we have collected)

It is also a must to use an Irish accent whenever possible- a good CD of irish songs would help with this

Movies

Some great movies are the Gnome Mobile & Darby O Gill and the Little People

Food-

An important aspect of any holiday.

 For breakfast, we love having Lucky Charms with our green milk (sorry I know many don't like the idea of green milk.. including my husband- but its fun and hasn't killed me yet) We also like to make heart shaped waffles to form a shamrock or just plain green pancakes. Other ideas used would be french toast used with green bread, bacon with little leprechaun footprints (food coloring), green juice etc....

Dinner we like to have the traditional corned beef and cabbage. My grandma loves cooking corned beef in the crockpot and adding cabbage, potatoes and carrots and a big onion. Very good.

My family also makes a Lime Green Slush and believe me, it's amazing. Also have you tried Pistachio Pudding Salad... also a perfect festive treat.

I have never tried Irish Soda Bread, but am going to this year. Anyone have any good recipes??

I also made these fun shamrock cupcakes this year to give to neighbors and friends. I saw the idea at Family Fun awhile back

What you do is place paper liners in muffin cups and fill each halfway with the batter. Next take some foil and roll three balls per cupcake and insert them evenly around the space between the liner and the tin

Allow the cupcakes to cool, then remove them from the tin.

Cover each with green frosting. I used a little piece of green licorice for a stem

or another idea is making rainbow cupcakes I made my son a rainbow cake for his birthday last year and it was so fun- sure would be cute for St Patricks Day

SO have I convinced any of you to celebrate St Patricks Day??? Or have I scared you all off by my crazy amount of love for the holiday??? How do you celebrate St Patricks Day??  I would really love to know

St Patty's Wreath

Warning: If you get a little weirded out by people who really love St. Patricks Day, stop reading now!!

For many of you- Valentines Decorations are followed by Easter ones. But not in my house, oh no sir-ee. There is a very important holiday so dear to my heart that is one of my favorites to celebrate in between the two. I really don't have one big reason why I love St. Patricks Day, maybe because of my Irish blood, but I have for as long as I can remember.
My mom and aunts always made a big deal about it and so I guess that is partly the reason. I also love the Irish culture- the music and dancing especially! I remember as a kid searching for a leprechaun with my cousin in my backyard- totally thought they were real and well kinda wish they were.
It was funny, I was having a conversation with my previous manager awhile back informing him of all the good holidays that I had to work the previous year and he totally laughed when St. Patricks was included on that list.... He still makes fun of me for it.
We have some fun traditions, but I will share those later. For now, I wanted to show you my new little wreath. It may look pretty familiar, since it is pretty much a copy of the felt heart wreath (idea room)- however I did make some changes
-It's green and circular instead of a red heart (probably didn't need to write this one)
-I cut out heart shapes instead of circles to give it more of a "Shamrocky" look
-I used two different colors
-Attatched a schnazzy gold ribbon

Get excited, some more ST Patricks Day posts coming your way!!

Valentines Chair Backer

I have had my eye on these for awhile now 

Yes, they are from Pottery Barn

I really wanted to try making my own this year and found a great tutorial here -but realized it would take a lot more time than I had.
Anyway, I was really excited when I saw this website with great step by step instructions. Did a little at work and finished it up at home in no time-(Note: The tutorial says that you need 3 pieces of stiff felt- but I only had to use two- I think it is an error. Also they used glue alone to hold theirs together, where I along with the glue added a quick backstich to mine- just to hold it together extra tight!)

Here is how it turned out!!

Just love that is hangs on the back of the chair.

Was just perfect for holding little gifts in

REALLY this was such an EASY quick project!!

Hope you all had a great Valentines Day!!!

Felt V-day Treats!!

I have been meaning to make some felt food for my son ever since he got a play kitchen for Christmas. I have come to the conclusion that it is going to be over a period of time before we can stock his fridge and cupboards. For Valentines day, I thought it would be perfect to give him some dessert themed felt food items to get his collection going!! I started out with some doughnuts. I think I was craving them ever since I posted this.... Anyway, here is how they turned out....

for those of you whose hearts fancy chocolate glazed...

or maybe white frosting and chocolate sprinkles

After showing my husband these- he told me they looked great but didn't have enough sprinkles on them to tempt him... so here is his

just a few more!!

They were SO much fun to make and decided that each of you should know how to make them too- so here is how I did it (there are probably better and less complicated ways to do this but this is what I came up with)
Supplies: Felt (multiple colors) thread and needle (coordinating colors) scissors, stuffing
1- Cut out two circles that will make up the actual doughnut- I chose my chocolate brown for this one

(I know fabulous photography.. blame it on the camera!!)

2-Line the two up on top of each other and cut a hole in the middle-

3-Get another piece of felt that you want to use for the frosting and cut
4-Place frosting on top of circle, lining up where you want to place it, measure where the hole is and cut the exact shape of hole onto the frosting
5-Sew around the edge of the frosting in thread color of your choice (I liked mine matching) I used a backstich. Sew only on one of the circles!!
6-Add sprinkles. Easy- just do one little stitch randomly over the frosted area of the doughnut

7-Next, get your other circle and match all the holes together. Then do a little whip action (whip stich) around the middle circle with same thread.

8-Once your middle is sewn together, change thread and whip stich around the outside. I like to do almost half the circle before I added stuffing. Once halfway, stuff that baby, stitch some more, then stuff stuff stuff until you are done!!!

Not too bad right???

I couldn't just stop at the doughnuts.... so I made some festive sugar cookies

(click to enlarge)

DO these make anyone else hungry???

Anyway, thought these would be a fun Valentine gift, and the possiblities are endless!!!

Like I said before, felt food is quite addicting!! Dont be surprised if the next couple of posts are more felt food projects- Maybe I will try going a little healthier