Jewelry Holder

I have seen all of these cool jewelry holders, made from picture frames or repurposed items, online.
Recently I have found that I'd like to have some kind of jewelry holder in my bathroom-where I normally take jewelry off and put jewelry on-however my bathroom is small, there is nowhere to place a stand and my wall spaces are limited-by size and a availability. I didn't want to spend more than a few dollars at the most so...this is the result.
I found 2 of these things (not sure what they are) at a yard sale, the "frame" is wood and there is a rope on the back for hanging I guess, but it doesn't hang flat so it needed a frame hook thingy on the back. Now, how to get my jewelry to hang without having to buy any hooks...I found a random drawer pull and got some buttons from my stash (the kind with the "hook" on the back, not the flat ones) and glued them on with hot glue (or heavy duty glue-which is better), let it set 24 hours and to my surprise, it worked!
Invested $=$5 for the 2 "frames", $0 for random objects around the house, $0 for glue I already had.

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Happy New Year!-Rabbit

Here it is, Happy New Year to all! I embossed the rabbits and attached it to the paper. Simple but sweet I think.

Paper Dolls

I love this little Japanese paper doll that I made. I had used some instructions from another blog, but found that they weren't the size I wanted, and that I wanted to change some things, so....I made my own template and came up with this. I used my scrap scrapbook paper, glue, cardstock, and scissors, that's it! These are so fun and I just know that kids could make them too. This one came out to about 6 in. long and 4 in. wide, but just cut the bottom some and make the "hair" not so ridiculously tall, and it will fit right on the front of a card.

I think it would be great to use on the front of a card. Any other ideas for use?

PS-If anyone would like the template/instructions I made, just let me know and I'll write it up and post.

Craft Party

To start the year off I am hosting my first ever "Craft Party." Plan to have some challenges and some standard things to do, like make Valentine cards. I've been sewing, cutting, organizing, etc. to get all the supplies ready for everyone, including those quilted Valentine hearts. This is the invitation I ended up making (RSVP and address left off for picture purposes). I sewed the edges and embossed the letters (need to keep working on that).

Quilted Valentine Hearts

I can be a lazy sewer sometimes, especially when it comes to sewing for card making. I had made some quilted hearts last year but decided it was too time consuming to make them so that there is a clean side seam and doing the turning it inside out, hand sewing closed, etc. Welcome my new "lazy sewer" method.

Using scrap fabric, scrap lace and binding, and batting, I made these delicious quilted hearts and plan to use them on cards etc. My favorite part about these, they are completely reversible-meaning that if I like one side better than the other, I just use that side, yay!

How to make: (1) sew fabric scraps on one side of batting, then sew scraps on the other side of the batting (2) any pieces that on the fabric that need covering can be covered by placing scrap lace, batting, or whatever overthe part that needs to be covered and sewing it down. (3) Ready to cut out the hearts, any size and shape you like-can use a cookie cutter or free hand, whatever. (4) once all the hearts are cut out, zig zag stitch around the heart and you are done!

Valetine's Cards

I realize it is well past Valentine's so, sorry. Maybe these will give you inspiration for a "love" card or cards next year.

Another craft room and ideas

Oh what a joy to see this room. There are several things I love here that I would like to make sure to remember. 1. A desk, that appears to be used for its purpose, to work on. Yes, I need one of those. 2. I like that system of hanging stickers, sheets, etc on wire hooks to just scroll through easily 3. Moveable wire shelving, I like anything that moves easily and serves the purpose of storage. 4. I see paper color organized on a shelf. I definitely like being able to see the paper on display this way (as opposed to drawers)

Recycled Christmas Stocking

QUILT BEFORE

STOCKINGS AFTER (ONE STOCKING, EACH SIDE)

Recently my grandmother passed away and while going through her stuff, I found some very old quilts, quite a few with large holes and tears that were not fixable. I just couldn't make myself throw them away.

So, given the season, I decided to try my hand at making a Christmas stockng using the pieces of one of the old torn up quilts. Mind you, I have never made a stocking nor did I have a template for one, I just winged it, hence the results.

Still think it's cute and keeps someone's hardwork to be appreciated and used.

Etsy shop is updated!

For the Handmade Gift Guide Holiday Holiday Sale, I have now put some things up in my Etsy shop. What could these include? Scarves, bags, and tutus.

Here are some pics, check out the link to the top left if you are interested. And be sure to check out the Handmade Gift Guide Holiday Sale site for other neat stuff.

Etsy Shop-Shop Handmade for the Holidays

I am finally getting back to my etsy shop. The Handmade Gift Guide Holiday Sale is Dec 6-12th. I will have my Etsy shop up and ready for selling by then (ooh busy).
Please consider supporting the handmade movement. Everyone loves a handmade gift.

A centerpiece to impress

I found this while browsing through the Thanksgiving section of allrecipes.com

I hosted my first ever Thanksgiving this year and had 9 guests. So, since I don't really do Southern food, I thought I would try my hand at this thing. Everyone loved it just as I loved it in the picture online, and really, it is as easy as can be. Much easier than making a homemade pie crust. And, this is edible or you can spray it to keep it for later uses (but don't eat it if you spray it, ew).

Just, please ignore the trash can in the background in the second picture, I promise, it's far away from the table and come on, it was Thanksgiving day cooking.

Link to the directions here.

Craft Room

Here is another gorgeous craft room I found. This looks like it's pretty much for sewing, but there are several useful things that can be found here for most all crafters.

First, the colors, I like the bright colors, makes me want to be there. I also like that it doesn't seem like it's not "messupable."

Hmm, what do I want from here, the bright colors, the big ironing table, and the dowel like thing that is holding up all of that ribbon and other goodies.

Oh, and I want the fun curtains too.

HGTV Craft Room

My thread

Courtesy of dear old dad, I am heavily armed and ready to tackle any embroidery project my mind can think of, which is great but...mostly I just like to look at all the pretty colors :).

How to make a tutu

I found myself wanting to make a tutu and decided to write the tutorial up with what I hope are clear pictures. The tutu's came out great and I am quite pleased with them. I gave one away to a 7 year old little one who wanted to be a ballerina for Halloween. Now what to do with the other 9...?

How to make a tutu
(Will approximately fit 18 months-7 years)

Craft Rooms

Looking for a new place to live in the next year or so. With that in mind, I am going to look for something where I can have a room designated as my crafting space (I know that's a lot to ask). So I am starting to look for ideas for craft rooms so that when it comes time to move, I will have a rough layout of the room and can come prepared instead of haphazardly throwing stuff in there.
All that to say, I will be periodically posting craft spaces on here that I find, or people send me. So if you have a craft space you would like to share, please pass the pictures along.

Click here for more pics of the HGTV Craft Room

Mod Podge and Tea Bags, What?

So I found a new blog I am enjoying that had inspired me to make the fabric covered clothespins and I saw she had a link to a really fun tutorial to make a tea bag covered clipboard.

This is very fun, I could think of at least five different things one could do with this method. For one, I could make my own tea bag box by buying one of those wooden craft boxes at Michael's or some other craft shop, and applying the tea bags to that. Fun!

Now I need to start saving up all of my tea bags...

How to make fabric covered clothespins - Scrap Buster

Sew Mama Sew is having a Scrap Buster Month for October so I came up with an idea to cover clothespins with scrap fabric (truly scrap since it's so small) place a magnet on the back and instantly have both magnets for the fridge and "chip clips." Fun!

Here is the PDF of the instructions.

Printable Recipe Cards

a list of printable recipe cards

1. Cute 4 different stylish recipe cards
from messyvegetariancook.com

Click here for the version that you can type in

2. Cute 4 different Fall themed recipe cards
from messyvegetariancook.com

Note: this would be great to make a stack of them, put a cardboard (heavy cardstock) backing on, cardstock or cool front cover, and then use padding cement (also known as padding compound) to seal the stack together and give away as a gift.

How to photograph food

As I am cleaning out this month I am going through magazines and ripping out pages I want to keep and setting them aside in a box, then sending on the magazines to local areas who could use them. As I was goint through my May 2008 Rachael Ray I found a brief note as part of an article that was..."How to...Photograph Food" and I thought I would put it on here for others too.

From Rachael Ray magazine May 2008 p. 30
It's easy to take photographs as tasty as the dishes themselves, especially with these tips from food photographer Lou Manna:

Reflect Light. Prop a mirror or foil up next to the plate to aim light onto the dish; to diffuse light, prop up wax paper instead. AVOID DISTRACTING BACKGROUND PATTERNS. Stick with solid-color plates and fabrics. GET IN THERE! Most beginners shoot from too far away, Manna says. The food should actually look huge in the camera's viewfinder. (And don't shoot straight on-angles are more interesting.)


Well, maybe I can get better pics of food now that I have these tips of info.

How to make a diaper cake

Part 2 of the Baby Shower:

I wanted to make a diaper cake as a centerpiece, searched and searched, came up with a simple way, with pictures.

Ingredients: Baby bottles, diapers, a few rubber bands, and any trim or decoration you want.

Step 1: Start on some kind of flat surface that you can pick up and carry. The amount of diapers you need depends on the size of the diapers, and the size of the cake you want to make. For the one I made, I used size one diapers and used one large package and a few extra but could have made it with just the one package.

Step 2: You need something to put the diapers around, best thing, a baby bottle.

Step 3: Roll the diapers. Many instructions out there say to place a rubber band around each one, this was completely uncessary. I rolled diapers, you can see about 7 on the first row around the bottle, I placed a rubber band around the outside of those, you just put the rubber band on and squeeze in the diapers into the rubber band. For the second layer, just do the same thing, place a rubber band around your first layer and then squeeze in the rolled diapers into the rubber band. Now your bottom level is ready.

Step 4: Just do the same thing around the top of the bottle. You just use less diapers around this time, so that it looks like cake layers.

If you want more layers, just add another bottle and repeat the steps like you did before.

Now time to decorate however you want. I used an animal theme for the party so I found animal themed ribbon, wrapped it around where the rubber band was showing, and taped it so it would stay. Then I found some animal wood cut outs at Michaels and stuck them in along the ribbon. I also added some blue ribbon with a bow in front to make it a little cuter. The best thing about these is that you can design it however you want, it is relatively inexpensive to make, the mother can use all of the diapers and the bottles, and you have a centerpiece.

By the way, I have never made one before and it only took more maybe an hour at the most. Go for it.