Crafty Schemes

Food Friday - Babybel Yumminess

2011-06-24T14:50:00.000+09:00

* Since I LOVE both photography and food I figured I would switch off between Photography Fun Fridays and Food Fridays. *

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Happy Friday everyone! First things first the winner (chosen using Random.org) of the ebook -The Key To Taking Pictures Like A Professional Photographer by Katie Evans is:

Commenter #5 Lytles said:

"The book looks great! I would love to win it!"

Congratulations! I hope you enjoy the book as much as I did!

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Now on to Food Friday. I don't know about you but my family LOVES cheese in pretty much every kind and shape. One of our particular favorites are Laughing Cows Mini Babybel cheese.

They are so cute and just the perfect size for lunches and snacking. If you haven't tried them you totally should! Of course if they aren't quite cute enough you can always follow Tiffany's directions on Cute Food For Kids and do the following:

You can go with these simple babybel umbrella's. Or..

These super duper Cute babybel girls! Or my personal favorite

This awesome babyel Angry Bird!

And this is just a few of the adorable creations on Cute Food for Kids. I am not sure if there is anything Tiffany can't make out of babybel cheese! She has a gift for making the most ADORABLE kids food. Her adorable babybel creations are only the beginning. I seriously spent and entire evening pouring over her blog! She has so many easy cute food ideas that there is sure to be something that both you and your kids will love. I cannot wait to pick up some more babybels so I can make them even cuter. Now I just have to decided which one to make first...

Pretty Pretty Nails

2011-06-23T22:20:00.000+09:00

*We didn't have power all day so this post is a bit late. Better late than never though - right?*

With a house full of girls nail polish is obviously a very beloved item. There is nothing my girls and I love more than getting our nails painted. Now that the girls are getting older and getting better about sitting still I think we are ready to venture out from the same old pink nails. I have spent the last couple of weeks tagging cute nail polish ideas on Pinterest like these.

I am sure I won't be able to do something as cute an elaborate as those pictures but I am willing to try! I picked up some new nail polish at the store last week and I am just waiting for the perfect day to get creative with the girls nails. Why just their fingernails? Well we are lucky enough to have a local shop that does AMAZING artwork on our toenails.

I could NEVER do anything this elaborate or cute if I tried! Are you doing anything special to your toes or fingers for summer time?

Plain Slip to Fancy Slip

2011-06-22T06:26:00.019+09:00

Summer is full swing here in Okinawa which means it is hot and humid. I do not like hot and humid weather because it makes me feel soo gross. After 3 years of living here I have come to realize that dresses are the way to go during the summer. So to start off the summer I bought a handful of dresses from various places, some long and some short. I ALWAYS order dresses in tall to give me a bit more length but it doesn't always work. I ended up with a couple of dresses that were a bit too short and I for one do not like showing off my undies to the world. So I stuck them in the back of the closet till I could decide what to do with them.

I was browsing on Etsy one day when I came across A Slip Shop. I was instantly in love with all of the adorable slips for sale in the shop. It was all the inspiration I needed and the perfect solution to my short dress problem. Yesterday I hit the store and bought a plain slip, some eyelet lace and here is what I ended up with:

Yes I took all the pictures outside and yes I looked like a crazy lady but my neighbors are use to it. My house has abysmal lighting and I could not get a good picture no matter what I did. So I drug my mirror outside and snapped away. Ok back to the adorable slip. It was super easy and simple to make. The entire project took me about 15 minutes beginning to end. Here are a few notes about making your own fancy slip.

1. You can make the slip from scratch but I choose to take a shortcut and went with a store bought half slip. I just made sure it was long enough for what I wanted which was 20 inches.

2. Buy enough lace! I cannot stress this enough. I thought a yard would be more than enough lace for the slip. Had I watched her cut it I would have know to ask for another 1/2 yard of lace. Instead I was trying to wrangle my little stinkers and keep them for running over the sweet Japanese ladies at the fabric store. I ended up taking the slip in so the lace I bought would work. It wasn't a big deal but the slip is a bit tighter that what I hoped for. Of course you could always do the smart thing and measure the end of your slip to know exactly how much lace you will need.

3. My slips were fairly low cost to make. I bought cheap slips (about $5) but the lace is what really cost me. It might be something about Japan but my eyelet lace was $7 a yard. It was actually the most expensive lace they had there. Still the project was cheaper (and faster) than buying one online.

4. If you are not up to making your own slip go to A Slip Shop and check our their amazing selection of gorgeous slips. The prices are great especially if it means you can pull all those too short dresses out of the back of your closet!

My first slip was a learning experience to be sure but I think it turned out well. I cannot wait to make another one. Maybe I will make the next one with a double layer of lace!

I am linking up to these great parties!

Summer Fun List - Pet Rocks

2011-06-21T06:25:00.006+09:00

The girls got to pick out of the summer fun bucket for the very first time today! They were very excited when they read the slip - Pet Rocks. I remember making very large pet rocks as a little girl and dragging them around everywhere. I loved them, even if it hurt SUPER bad when I dropped them on my foot which I did a lot. I had such fond memories of making them I just had to make some with the girls. Needless to say I was excited as they were to get started on our project.

I did not think through this project before we started. I knew I had markers and I thought I had googly eyes (I didn't) and the rocks would be easy to find - right? WRONG. The only rocks we could find were the small black decortive ones in the front yard. The were not quite the right size for pet rocks but we didn't have much of a choice.

Our pet rocks turned into more of a rock decorating session. We used the paint markers to make faces and draw pictures on a couple dozen rocks. They aren't quite pet rocks but they are adorable and the girls had a great time making them. Even though the project didn't go quite the way I had envisioned it was still a success.

PS Our Summer Snack System is working VERY well so far. The girls caught on quickly and are having fun using their "money"!

Summer Snack System

2011-06-20T07:18:00.000+09:00

It is officially summer here! The girls are home and having tons of fun together - for the most part. Of course having the girls home all day means that the phrase "I am HUNGRY!" If I let the girls they would snack all day long. I cannot tell you how many times I have told them they could have a few pretzels only to find an empty bag on the counter 15 minutes later! I would also like to encourage them to eat more fruits and veggies rather than needless processed snacks. I have been racking my brain to come up with a way to both of those and at the same time make it a fun learning experience for the girls. Then miracle of miracles I found this post (Streamlining Summer Snacking) from Kristen Duke Photography tagged on Pinterest. Oh how I LOVE Pinterest!

After reading Kristen's post I was very inspired so I hit the store grabbed a few supplies and set to work on our summer snack plan. Here is what I cam up with:

Our Summer Snack System

The cost/plan:

The girls will each get 10 $1 bills and 5 $5 bills each week. They will be encouraged use 2 of their $1 bills and one of their $5 each day. I plan to print out the money (found here) in different colors for each of the girls so we can keep them straight. The money will be stored in coordinating pouches and hung on the fridge.

The snacks:

The first and perhaps most important thing the girls will know is that they can have fruits and veggies anytime they want and those will not cost them anything. I came up different types of snacks for the $1 and $5 dollar snack bins and it was rather difficult. I am all about healthy snacks for the girls but most easy snacks are not the best for the girls. After some contemplation I came with a decent list. The $1 snacks will be things like goldfish crackers, Gogurts, granola bars, Popsicles, cheese sticks, pretzels and other semi-healthy snacks. The $5 snacks will consist of dessert type snacks like Oreos, Poptarts, chocolate chip cookies, fruit snacks and other homemade desserts. I plan to separate the snacks into serving sizes (using sandwich bags) and store them in plastic bins labeled with the "price" on the outside. They will be stored up high so my little stinkers have to get permission and pay up before they can get to them!

I picked up a small magnetic dry erase board so I could write out the weekly snack inventory (starting with the free fruits and veggies of course) so they girls know what they have to spend their "money" on. I am REALLY hoping this new snack system will help cut back on the snacks and amount of "boredom" eating the girls are doing. How do you deal with kids and snacking during the summer?

I am linking up to these great parties!

Photography Fun Fridays

2011-06-17T06:22:00.025+09:00

Welcome to Photography Fun Friday. My sister made a comment on my Lazy Saturday post about how it wasn't fair that I have a better camera and ability to take pictures than she does. Since I am a good big sister I have decided to create Photography Fun Friday! I am not an expert or a professional but I love learning more about photography and I love to share what I know. If there is something you are curious about or want to learn let me know otherwise I will post whatever fun photography thing I am interested in that week.

To start off Photography Fun Friday I want to share a WONDERFUL photography book with you - The Key To Taking Pictures Like A Professional Photographer by Katie Evans. Katie is a very talented stay at home Mom photographer in Texas. To quote Katie "I want to offer all the information I have in my repertoire so that you, too, can create an album of treasured memories to last a lifetime." Katies book helps you to do just that. I downloaded The Key To Taking Pictures Like A Professional Photographer a week ago and devoured it within a day. If you own a camera you MUST read this book.

Katie starts off by talking about cameras, lenses and gear to help you understand what you have or what you need to get. Then she helps you learn how to use that awesome camera you have invested in. She takes you through the basics and helps you get started with shooting in manual mode. She talks about exposure and helps you better understand your camera settings. She does a wonderful job explaining how it all works and her book if full of fabulous photographs. I don't know about you but I am a visual learner so good pictures are a must - especially for a photography book!

Now I don't want you to think that her books only applies to beginners. I consider myself to be an advanced beginner (I have been shooting on manual for a year now) and her book taught me so much. I was stuck in a bit of rut and Katie's book really helped me through it. I learned so much from her chapter on composition and her chapters on lighting and editing totally rocked my photography world! After reading her book I was eager to get out and apply all that I learned.

If you have any interest in photography at all I highly recommend that you purchase a copy of The Key To Taking Pictures Like A Professional Photographer by Katie Evans. You can download the ebook version on Katie's website thekeytotaking pictures.com. Believe me it is worth every penny!!

Now if purchasing a photography book is not in your budget at the moment you are in luck because I am giving away a copy of Katie's to book to one of my lucky readers. Just leave a comment below before midnight on Wednesday June 22nd. I will randomly choose a winner and announce it on next Fridays post.

*The contest is now closed*

Summer Fun List

2011-06-13T17:25:00.001+09:00

I am eagerly awaiting the beginning of summer - my oldest is out on Thursday! While I may come to regret these words mid July I must say I that I am so excited to have the girls home to hang out with. I really do enjoying taking them places and doing things with them during the summer. We will most likely keep our schedule from last year which was one beach day a week and one pool day a week. The other days are open to do whatever else we feel like.

To combat the "I AM BORED" comments that I am bound to hear the other days of the week I came up with a Summer Fun List with some fun crafts, games, and things to do at home to put on the list. Because I am visual person I also added a board on my Pinterest page were I can tag all of my ideas .I did some quick calculations and I need 30 activities for us to do while the girls are out of school.

After working, thinking and selecting I came up with an AWESOME list. Since I love all of you I will share the fun ideas I cam up with! Here is our Summer Fun list with links

1. Make Homemade Stilts

2. Paper Bowl Jelly Fish

3. Make Ice cream (we have an ice cream maker)

4. Have an indoor picnic in a tent

5. Make Paper Cameras

6. Make sidewalk chalk paint and paint murals

7. Make an unbirthday box for cousins (full of fun Japanese things)

8. Make Candy

9. Slip n' Slide

10. Photo Scavenger Hunt (give the girls cameras and a list of things to take pictures of)

11. Play Golf (in the backyard)

12. Wash the Car(a fun chore!)

13. Play hide n go seek

14. Make a foamerator

15. Make Pet Rocks

16. Have a water balloon fight

17. Make giant bubbles

18. Make fabric bracelets

19. Paint Fingernails

20. Make Gak

21. Make MoonSand

22. MakePopsicle Bracelets

23. Make Playdoh

24. Paintfreezer paper shirts

25. Make no sew pillows

26. Send un-birthday box to the Embrey's :)

27. Do Makeovers then take pictures

28. Play Movie Theater

29. Have a tinyparty

30. Draw pictures for Grandparents

I printed all the ideas out, cut them into strips and placed them in our piggy bucket. I will let the girls take turns picking what we do on our days at home. To keep track of everything I found these adorable summer calendars on Anything But Perfect.

After the girls choose what we are going to do the next day they can write it on the calendar. I also wrote in our beach days, pools days and the first day of school so I know when the fun will be over!

So what are you summer plans? Do you have any fun ideas on your summer bucket list?

I am linking up to these great parties!

2011-05-17T13:01:00.000+09:00

When I was younger I would spend hours tearing apart magazines and putting together inspiration scrapbooks. Sometimes they were about make up sometimes there were about clothing and more often than not they were about whatever cute movie star I was crushing on. I use to love flipping through them to get inspiration for whatever project I was working on or just life in general. I love having a bunch of visual inspiration at my finger tips.

As I have gotten older I have had less and less time to put together my inspiration scrapbooks especially now that I have the girls. I have tried various ways to recreate this books on my computer. At first I would just download pictures and store them in specific folders. This started to take up a LOT of room and I would not always remember where I found the idea. I am all about giving credit after all. I tried Tumblr for a bit but I could never get use to the way it worked. Then I found Pinterest. I must say that I am head over heels in LOVE with Pinterest!

Pinterest is basically one big virtual pinboard. A place to pin all the inspirational pictures, thoughts and ideas that you come across on the web. You can set up different boards to keep you organized. You can view the main page or even follow other people on Pinterest. Here is the basics on how it works:

"The easiest way to pin an item is to use the Pin It bookmark. This is a special button that lets you grab an image from any website and add it to one of your pinboards. When you pin from a website, we automatically grab the source link so we can credit the original creator.

Every pinboard has a follow button. When you follow a pinboard, you will see all of the pins that are added to that board on your home screen in real-time. By following lots of Pinboards, Pinterest will bring you a visual feed of things you love."

I cannot even begin to express my love Pinterest in words. It is the visually stimulating website that I have ever been too. My new favorite past time is browsing through Pinterest while eating cookies and drinking milk. It is just too much fun!

If you are interested my username is heytherelou and you are more than welcome to follow my boards. Do you have a pinterest board? If so let me know your username because I would love to follow you!

Food Friday Marie Sandwiches

2011-02-04T08:11:00.002+09:00

My daughter loved yesterdays lunch and request more of the same today. Rather than do a plan old PB&J I decided to step it up a notch plus I wanted to use my fun new finds from my recent bento shopping trip. I was thrilled to use my Marie (from Disney's Aristocats) sandwich molds
Not only do they cut the bread in a kitty shape they also leave an adorable impression for the face. I am sorry I didn't get a better picture of it. I added star fruit and a banana as requested. Again I just have to say I LOVE the tiny bananas here they are perfect for lunches! I also got to make her some cute flower carrots with my new veggie cutter.

The cutter was really fun to use and worked really well on the carrots. I got several different shape cutters and I am excited to try them on different fruits and veggies to see how they work. This lunch was easy but so much fun to make and I think it turned out pretty cute.

Inspiration: Cotton and Curls

2011-02-03T09:39:00.007+09:00

There are times that I find myself in a creative funk. Times that I don't feel so crafty after all. Times when I get discouraged because I don't have access to the supplies I need or want. Times like right now when all of my craft supplies are in boxes to be moved into a new room. The best way for me to snap out of my creative funk is to find outside inspiration. Every funk is different and so the inspiration needed to snap me out of it is also different. This time all it took to get my creative wheels a moving was one glance at Cotton and Curls.

Cotton and Curls is my new favorite blog! Lizzie is amazing with a sewing machine and her refashions blow me away. She did a 30 day wardrobe revamp project and had some amazing results. Here are a few of my favorites:

Terrific Trenchcoat revamp

Perfect Pink Piped Skirt

Super Adorable Skinny Jeans

The girl is seriously AMAZING! I highly recommend checking out her blog and becoming a follower. I can't wait to see what she comes up with next. I am so ready to get my craft room back in order so I can start working on some refashions of my own thanks to Lizzie's inspiration!

Tutorial Tuesday Hats and Fancy Hair Clips

2011-02-01T07:00:00.000+09:00

Once again I don't have a tutorial for you. I am still in the midst of relocating my craft room and I have had very little time to make anything. I could write a tutorial on how to make even more work for yourself by moving rooms around in your house while spring cleaning but I doubt you would all want to read that.

Of course I have needed a distraction from all my room moving so I spent a little time blog hopping and adding a bunch of projects to my "TO DO" list! While I was searching for spring dresses I became distracted by some fancy hat and hair clip tutorials. I am girly girl with 2 little girls so I love me a good hair thing tutorial. Here are the tutorials I am drooling over right now!

First up is an adorable Hat from Sewing In No Mans Land:

Next is a fancy feathered headband for The Crimson Owl:

Of crouse I had to add the gorgeous cocktail hat that was on Craftzine:

And last but not least this fantastic Feather and Flower headband from Still Dottie:

Do you have any hair tutorials you just love? If so please share a link in the comments. My girls and I could always use some more hair bling!

Spring Fever

2011-01-31T07:03:00.001+09:00

I am still working on my house and it is quite possible that I made even more work for myself. We live in a pretty small 3 bedroom house. There is not a lot of space and I continually move things around imagining that I will find some extra space. I had the girls sharing a room and was using the small extra bedroom as my craft room. As great as it sounds the set up is not ideal. I don't like having all the girls toys and TV in their bedroom. So I decided to move them into the small room and to make us a craft/playroom. I am hoping this will be a more functional set up and make it is easier to get the girls to sleep at night distraction free. I am hoping to get all the changes in place by this weekend. It will be longer than that before I finish my craft area. I am still searching for some cute pink bins to store all my craft supplies in!

I think all my spring cleaning has given me spring fever. I am longing for warm days and sunshine. Ok it really isn't that cold here but it has been rainy and gloomy lately. To ease my spring fever I began looking online for some adorable spring dresses for my girls. After searching for hours I came up empty handed. I was looking for some plain simple cotton dresses in my price range (ie cheap) and there just wasn't anything. So it looks like I will have to make them! Now I am on the hunt for simple dress patterns. I looked around on You Can Make This (love that site!) and found this adorable peasant dress pattern from SisBoom.

I look likes a great simple dress that would be easy to embellish. Do you have any spring dress patterns your love? I would love to find another simple dress pattern that I could make for the girls. I am envisioning their spring wardrobe full of cute dresses and colorful leggings!

Tutorial Tuesday Valentine Projects

2011-01-25T07:12:00.003+09:00

As much as I would love to have a great Stuffed With Love tutorial for you all today I don't. I am still trying to get my house back together after my sick days. I have come up with a new schedule that I hope allows me a bit more time to craft!

Of course I love you all and I don't want to leave you with nothing to read so I thought I would share a few of my favorite Valentine project links. All of these are from FABULOUS blogs and are on my "TO DO" list.

Adorable Felt Locket from Sweetie Pie Bakery
I think these will make such an adorable gift for my girls on Valentines Day!

Valentines Felt Wreath from Made It On Monday
I need to change up my wreath and I just adored this felt one. It is so romantic and perfect for Valentines day!

Mr Darcy Plate from Grey Luster Girl
Pride and Predudice is my all time favorite book! This quote makes me smile every time I read it. This is one decoration that I would leave up all year!

Valentines Day Treat Packages from Martha Stewart
I have been trying to decide what type of Valentine card my girls would give out this year. When I saw this one from Martha Stewart I knew it would be perfect!

Do you have any fabulous Valentine projects up your sleeve? If so please share them!

Finding Time To Craft

2011-01-24T07:14:00.001+09:00

I am finally feeling all the way better. My chest pain is gone and I can breathe deeply again. The only problem is that my house is definitely showing that I took some sick days. I feel guilty working on craft projects if my house is not clean. On the other hand I hand doing housework all day everyday is no fun. I have a tendency to continually do things for others but forget about me.
So I have a question for all of you - How do you find time to craft? Do you schedule time to yourself everyday or do you just squeeze it in between your "To Do" list. I am trying to find that balance but it is a struggle. I know that it is important to make time for myself and for me to do things I enjoy I am just not sure how to do it. I might have to revamp my entire schedule so I can figure this out. Any tips and help would be appreciated!

What I am Working On

2011-01-10T10:55:00.002+09:00

So things have not being going quite like I planned. I was hoping to start off my year with a crafty bang. Instead I got a cold which then turned into costochondritis (an infection in my sternum and ribs). Basically my chests feels like someone kicked me in it and it hurts to breathe. Needless to say I haven't had much energy to make any crafts lately.

Of course resting on the couch is only so much fun and I was itching to do something creative. I ended up redoing my personal blog background as well as designing a background for my sisters new blog Mouthful of Memories. I love being able to be creative without too much effort or mess!

What can of crafts do you like to work on when you aren't feeling well? Or am I the only person who still crafts when they are sick?

I am starting to feel better and hoping to have plenty of posts up for you to enjoy this week. I have tons of ideas that I want to put into action and I can wait to share them with all of you!

Food Friday Fishy Sandwich

2011-01-07T06:30:00.002+09:00

This lunch was a lot of fun to make. Being Friday I ran out of cute things to put in her lunch so I thought I would get creative with her ham sandwich. It was very easy and fun to make.It has an olive eye, carrot mouth and celery tail. I put a half and orange, cheez-its (her request and I can not wait till they are all used up!) and strawberry filled koala cookies to top it all off.

Stuffed With Love Animal Scarfs

2011-01-04T07:33:00.012+09:00

The idea behind Stuffed With Love is to find new uses for old stuffed animals. I don't know about you but we have a VERY large amount of stuffed animals in our house. It is like the multiply over night or something! I try to go through them every few months to prevent them for taking over my girls room. I always take them to the thrift store but lately I have been searching for ways to reuse them. I have come up with some fun ideas and gathered a few more from the web and I am looking forward to sharing them with you!

This time I would like to show you have to make some AWESOME animal scarfs. This is the perfect use for all those tiny stuffed animals you have cluttering up your house. The first tutorial is based on one from A Girl and A Glue Gun. Her blog is wonderful and I highly recommend becoming a follower. The second tutorial is one I came up with using some tiny stuffed animals we got from Burger King. It is one of those rare times I am glad I have 2 girls so I get 2 toys when we eat there!

Stuffed Animal Scarf #1

You Need:
smaller stuffed animal
Scarf (I got mine from the 100 yen store)
needle and thread or sewing machine

The first step is to cut the stuffed animal in half. If your animal is a bead filled one you will want to do this step over the trash or you will end up with this:

Once you empty all of those tiny beads you will have a two nice size holes that look like this:

Next you you will insert the end of your scarf into the hole you just made.

The final step is to sew up the hole using either a needle and thread or your sewing machine. I tried both ways and found it was easier to use a needle and thread. Repeat for the other side of the scarf (with the other half of your stuffed animal) and you are done. The entire scarf took me about 10 minutes.

Animal Scarf #2

You Need:

2 small stuffed animals (mine were kids meal toys)
Scarf (I made mine out of old shirt sleeves)
A needle and thread or sewing machine

The first thing you want to do is unpick the thread on the back of the stuffed animal. Mine were kids meal toys (ie not very well made) so it was quite easy. You will end up with a hole like this:

Next you want to stuff the end of you scarf into the hole like this:

The last step is to sew it closed with either a sewing machine or needle and thread. Again I tried both and again I found the needle and thread to be easier. The bulkiness of the stuffed animals makes it hard to sew with a machine. Repeat for the other side of the scarf and you are done.

There you go to easy peasy animal scarfs. My girls love them, too bad it isn't cold enough to wear scarfs here. I plan on sending the striped pony scarf to my nephew in Utah - it is definitely cold enough there to use it!

I am linking up to these great parties!

What I am Working On and New Years Resolutions

2011-01-03T07:01:00.002+09:00

I have been hard at work on tomorrows tutorial and let me just say that it is going to be so much fun!! Here is a sneak peak of of some of the items I am going to be using.

If you read my personal blog you know I am not making New Years resolutions in my personal life and that I going with a word for the year instead. BUT I decided to make one resolution for the crafty side of my life. This year I am going to give handmade gifts to everyone! Note that I said handmade gifts and not that I am going to hand make all the gifts. I am realistic and I know there are some things I cannot or do not have the time to make - that is why I love Etsy.

The first gift I plan on giving are these AWESOME marshmallow shooters from Backwood Toys:
Are they not the coolest thing ever? One thing I really love about Backwoods Toys is that she will custom make the shooters for you down to the color. I am so excited to give these to my nephew and I am hoping he loves them!

So tell me, what are you working on? Are you making any crafty resolutions for 20011?

Not Forgotten

2010-12-28T16:56:00.005+09:00

I promise I haven't forgotten about the blog or

Turns out trying to blog during the holidays was a bit too hard. I barely had anytime to craft let alone blog with all of the festivities going on. In other words our holidays were WONDERFUL!
I will be back next week with some awesomely fun Stuffed With Love tutorials, refashions and yummy food!

Food Friday on Wednesday Pilgrim Hats

2010-11-24T10:19:00.004+09:00

Normally I post about food on Friday but these treats couldn't wait! I had to share them today in case you wanted to whip some up for your Thanksgiving feast. They were super easier and turned out oh so cute.

Pilgram Hat Cookies

All you need is some fudge striped cookies (flipped upside down), some Reese's peanut butter cups, some yellow Reese's pieces and a bit of frosting to stick them all together. They are no bake and very simple to make. They would make a fun activity for the kids on Thanksgiving.

I am linking up to these great parties!

Tutorial Tuesday: Animal Ear Hair Clips

2010-11-23T09:45:00.011+09:00

We have an over abundance of stuffed animals in our home. While my girls claim to love each and every one of them I on the other hand do not. They take up a lot of space and seem to multiply over night. I decided to reuse some old stuffed animals (rather than throw it away) to make these adorable hair clips. They were inspired by a pair of hair clips my neighbor brought home from a recent trip to Korea.

(Stuffed) Animal Ear Hair Clips

You Need:
an old stuffed animal with cute ears
alligator hair clips and/or snap hair clips
ribbon or other embellishments
a glue gun

The first step is to remove the animals ears. You may want to do this when you are alone unless you want to listen to screams and accusations of being a stuffed animal killer. Trust me, I speak from experience.

Next you are going to glue the ends of your ears closed with a bit of hot glue.

Then you are going to glue the ears to your hair clips. If you are making puppy ears you want to fold the ears under a bit so the raw edge is not showing. Alligator clips work best for puppy ears.

If you are making teddy bear or kitty ears it is best to use the snap hair clips. Gluing on the teddy bear or kitty ears is a bit trickier and requires more patience but it can be done. Just glue the ears straight down and hold them until the glue is set.

Now you can add ribbon or other embellishments to your ears. Once everything is dry they are ready to wear!

Does it get any cuter than this?

I am linking up to these great parties!

Stuffed With Love

2010-11-22T09:35:00.003+09:00

My little vacation ended up being much longer than I had annticipated. I have been up to my ears in activities and finally feel like I have a bit of a break. I have missed blogging and being able to share all my fun creations with you! I am so excited to get back into the swing of things and I have a great new theme for the next few weeks of Tutorial Tuesdays :

Homemade Halloween Costumes

2010-10-29T22:41:00.002+09:00

Here is a picture of the Halloween Costumes that I whipped up for my 2 little girls - A Pink Poodle with her box of babies and Strawberry Shortcake. This is the first year I have made their costumes and they turned out amazing if I do say so myself. Next year I don't think I will even bother trying order their costumes online!

I am linking up to these great parties!

On Vacation

2010-10-12T12:36:00.002+09:00

I am going to be taking a vacation from the blog for the next couple of weeks. My fabulous Mother in law is visiting for the next month. At first I thought I would be able to juggle the blog and spending time with the family but I have realized that isn't going to work. This is the first time I have seen my Mother in law in 2 1/2 years and I want to spend every minute with her that I can.

I will be back in November with some great crafty fun!

Food Friday Jack-o-lantern Sandwich

2010-10-08T07:09:00.000+09:00

This lunch was easy and super fun. I was able to find a great pack of Fall cookie cutters at the store for $2. I used the pumpkin one to make her this Jack-o-lantern sandwich. I used some of my other small shapes to makes the face. I love how it looks with the cheese right underneath! Then I added some eyeball carrots. I got the recipe from Family Fun. It consists of carrots, olives and cream cheese. I added some baked lays and topped it off with some chocolate pudding with a ghost marshmallow. I found a small pack of food coloring markers at the store. I wish I had black but the ghost still turned out cute.

Tutorial Tuesday Bat T-shirt

2010-10-05T19:29:00.002+09:00

October is here and Halloween is fast approaching. My girls needed a new shirt for Halloween and I came across a couple of purple t-shirts at the thrift store last week and I knew they would make great Halloween t-shirts. I thought long and hard about what I wanted to turn them into before settling on something rather batty.

Bat T-Shirt

You Need:
A t-shirt
Steam a Seam
Fabric for Bats
Fabric for Moon
Bat Template
Black Embroidery Thread

Ok the first thing you need to do is find a nice bat template. I just googled black bat and pulled one a like off of the images that came up. I payed around with the size before printing out the bat. It ended up being about 4 inches across. When you have a template you like you need to cut it out and trace the image onto the back of your chosen fabric. I decided to make 2 bats for my shirt.

I wanted to do something a little more colorful for the bats so I used an old pair of my pants. (Please do not judge me for owning such ugly pants!)

Next you want to cut out your moon. I used some yellow fabric and a bottle to make the moon.

Now you are going to put you fabric pieces on your steam a seam page. I made two shirts that is why there is double the amount. From here you need to follow the directions on the Steam a Seam package. I did run the iron over the page (with the protective top paper in place) for a minute so the fabric would stick a bit better then I cut out the pieces.

Line up your bats and your moon on the shirt and iron them in place. Now you can stop here or add a little more detail by going around the shirt with the black embroidery thread. I made one shirt each way and I really am torn by which one I like better. The thread adds detail but it took forever to do and I am not sure it was worth the extra time.

Since I made 2 shirts have both the girls model for me.

My oldest's shirt has the embroidery thread detail.

My youngest (and most reluctant model) is wearing the shirt without the detail.

Hope this tutorial works for you and doesn't drive you too batty!
(Sorry I couldn't resist)

Food Friday Pizza Wraps

2010-10-01T07:47:00.001+09:00

Today I got a little creative and decided to make my daughter some pizza wraps. They are flour tortilla's with pizza sauce, pepperoni, and olives inside. I rolled them up and secured them with a toothpick. If your child isn't allergic to cheese you can also add some mozzarella cheese to them. I put some pretzels and star fruit in as well. To top everything off I add some chocolate chip cookie flowers. We made chocolate chip cookies on Saturday but the cookies were too large to fit in the laptop containers. So I used my handy little veggie cutter to make smaller cookie flowers. They fit great and are supper cute!

Old Shirt to Skirt With Pockets

2010-09-29T07:24:00.000+09:00

I decided to remake this much to large shirt into a skirt for my daughter. I loved the detail on the fabric and the top of the shirt made it very easy to remake. I decided to try making pockets with the old sleeves. I cut the sleeves off a bit, tucked them in the shirt and sewed the ends. It actually worked really well! The skirt is made to be high waisted but my daughter keeps scooting it down because "It isn't comfortable like that!" Either way it turned out adorable and she loves it.

Kids Tutorial Tuesday Origami Purse

2010-09-28T07:51:00.007+09:00

I have decided to add something new to my Tutorial Tuesdays - Kids Crafts! We love to create things at our house. Both of my girls are very creative in their own ways. My youngest uses most of her creativity to draw on the walls and my oldest likes to try more traditional forms of creating. While living here in Japan my oldest has learned a little bit of origami and she wanted to share some with all of you.

Origami Purse

You will Need:
1 cute square piece of paper
Glue or Tape

The first thing you need to do is fold the paper into a triangle. According to my oldest daughter this is the hardest part.

Next you take one end and fold it towards the middle and secure with tape or glue.

Fold the other end towards the middle and secure with tape or glue.

Now take the top point and fold it down.

Top open you purse you pull apart the top point and bend one down while pulling the other one back.

Now stand back and admire you cute origami purse. This a very simple and fun kids craft. My daughter loves to make money , credit cards and ID out of paper scraps to go in her purse. Who knew that paper could provide hours of creative fun!

What I am Working On

2010-09-27T13:16:00.005+09:00

Here is a glimpse of what I am working on.

If all goes well and I can get the spray paint I need I should be able to show you the finished project this week!

What I Am Working On

2010-09-20T12:38:00.003+09:00

I promise I am still here and I am sorry for the lack of posts. I had grand intentions for last week and lots of projects I wanted to show off. Unfortunately my life spun rapidly out of control. I spent the last part of the week dealing with some on going issues my daughter is having at school. I am really hoping the week is better and that I can find a little more me time to craft. I have a nice pile of clothing from the thrift store that I can not wait to refashion for the girls! What are you working this week?

Tuesday Tutorial: Little Sister's Filing Cabinet

2010-09-14T05:06:00.003+09:00

As a writer I'm always trying to find more space for my papers. I tend to horde things, so I was in dire need of a filing cabinet to clear some space in our tiny apartment. I lucked out and found a large-ish filing cabinet for $10 at a yard sale. The only problem: it was UGLY.

This picture does not do justice to the scratches and dings all over it, but you can see how dirty it was. No, those aren't just your imagination, those are other people's grossness all over the front.

So what do you do with an ugly filing cabinet? I thought about painting it, but that would be too time-consuming (I have a two-year old and need only projects that can be done in small stolen moments) and might turn out uglier than before. That's when brilliance struck: CONTACT PAPER! After realizing I'm not talented or patient enough to use contact paper traditionally, in one long strip, I decide to try my hand at what I call Patchwork Contacting.

Here are the supplies you'll need:

An ugly piece of furniture you want to make over that has a smooth surface
Cleaning supplies
Contact paper in your color and pattern of choice (although, for this project I recommend staying away from plaids and squares)
Bone folder
Scissors
Patience
A realistic expectation for the level of perfection you desire (my expectation was not perfect at all)

Step 1: Clean the ugly piece of furniture.

Step 2: Decide how big of squares you want to make. I chose to make them all the same length, but different widths, to add variety.

Step 3: Cut a few squares at the same time.

Step 4: Put on the squares, one at a time, using the bone folder to smooth them out and get rid of any bubbles. Keep in mind that the smaller the squares, the less you'll have to worry about bubbles, but the more time it will take.

Have fun with this! You can do them overlapping so it has more of a collage feel; or use several different colors of contact paper. You can cut shapes or use words. Whatever you want to do! I chose to have a small amount of space between each of mine, but still keeping them relatively the same length, and that made it come out with a nice funky look.

Front view.

View of the top.

Side view.

(Notice the baby-proofing I had to do. Gotta keep this sticky baby fingers off my stuff.)

I still feel like it needs something else though. Any suggestions?

Guest Blogger and What I am Working On

2010-09-13T08:35:00.009+09:00

My Sister Pam and I
This was taken at her baby shower over 2 years ago.

I am excited to announce that tomorrow Crafty Schemes with have its very first guest blogger. Ok, so it is only my little sister Pam but I am still thrilled she wanted to share a fun tutorial on the blog. My sister is an amazing writer and Mother to the cutest little boy Dutch - isn't his name so adorable? She has a couple of great blogs that she writes. Ones is about her writing - The Unorganized Writer and the other is full of fabulous book reviews - The Bookish Blonde. She is also one of the most stylish women I know. She has always been my thrift store shopping buddy and has a knack for finding great treasures among the trash. I am so excited to post her fun tutorial for all of you tomorrow!

Now for what I have been up to. I am still working on my Craft room. It is set up in the sense that I can use the room but it is not finished as far as decorating goes. Oh and I don't have a chair to use at my desk and my sewing table. You would be surprised at how hard it has been for me to find one chair. I finally found this beauty at the thrift store last week for $2. I know you might be thinking I was totally ripped off but don't judge a book by it's cover or in this case a chair by its ugo fabric. I have plans to make it beautiful and hopefully I will be able to show you the transformation by the end of this week. What have you been up to?

Food Friday Lego Lunch

2010-09-10T07:39:00.001+09:00

This was a fun lunch to make and I thought of my adorable nephews while I was making it! It was super simple and the most time consuming part was punching out the dots. I actually have a decorative food cutter that is that small but you cold use an icing tip.

Ok the sandwich is tuna fish by request of my daughter. The bread dots are attached with extra miracle whip. The blue container has apple legos in it - the dots are attached with peanut butter. The red container has cheese legos and the orange container has a fruit roll-up lego in it. the lunch turned out great and my daughter said it extra yummy!

The Art Smock

2010-09-09T07:29:00.000+09:00

One of the things on my daughter's preschool supply list was an art smock. The school suggest using an old shirt and it needed to have my daughters name on it. Obviously an old shirt is not nearly cute enough for me. So I pulled out a bib that we had gotten from a local rib joint (we have more of these than I would care to admit) and got to work.

I used some cute ribbon, fabric, some scissors and some steam a seam and created this adorable art smock for my daughter. I cut out a large square of fabric to cover the writing then I added an E for my daughters name. It was still missing something so I added a flower to the top for some extra cuteness. Then I added some extra ties to the middle of the smock using ribbon. It is much cuter that a plain old shirt and I don't think she will have any trouble remembering which art smock is hers!

T-shirt Skirt

2010-09-08T08:39:00.004+09:00

I have been trying to go through the my pile of refasionable (I like to make up words) clothing before purchasing any more things at the thrift store. The pile is starting to get out of control! I made my oldest daughter a skirt using one of my husbands old shirts and one of my old elastic belts. I did a tight zig zag stitch on the bottom on the skirt to make it ruffly. My daughter loves the stripes and the fact that the skirt is "twirly". It was a quick refashion that turned out great!

Tutorial Tuesday Ribbon Belt

2010-09-07T07:07:00.001+09:00

During my back to school shopping spree at the thrift store I stumbled across the most adorable dress for my daughter. It is a cute plaid button up dress but it needed something extra - an adorable belt. So I decided to make her one out of some extra ribbon I had laying around. I used 2 inch red ribbon to make the belt and a flower embellishment.

To make the flower you are going to need about 6 inches of ribbon. I then ran a stitch close to one edge using elastic thread. I find that using the elastic thread to gather on thick fabric is easier. Once you are done with the stitch you want to pull either end of the elastic thread to and gather the ribbon until it starts to curl up.

After it is nice and gather you want to wind it around and make it into the shape of a flower.

Then you are going to squish the flower in half and run a stitch close to the end with regular thread. When you are done you can unfold your new flower and hopefully secure flower.

To make the belt I used some more 2 inch ribbon and 2 of D rings. I used my daughters waist to measure the ribbon out.
Next you want to take on end of your ribbon and run it through both D rings. Secure the ribbon with a quick stitch. It would probably look nicer if you fray check your ribbon prior to do this but I was just too lazy.

Now you are ready to add your flower. You can either sew it or be lazy like me and glue gun it close to your D rings. Then you can add a little bling to the center like a button, jewel or a vintage earring which is what I used.

Here is the finished ribbon belt. I think it adds a beautiful finishing touch to my daughters dress and it was super simple to make!

I'm Working On

2010-09-06T07:34:00.000+09:00

some flowers for Bekah. My friend asked me to make some flower hair clips for her daughter. Her daughter wears mostly pink so I did a couple of different shades of pink and some white ones. I think they turned out cute and I can not wait to give them to her. What are you working on?

Food Friday Caterpillar Sandwich

2010-09-03T06:45:00.000+09:00

For lunch today I made my daughter a Caterpillar tuna sandwich. For the body I used a round cookie cutter to make 4 tiny circle sandwiches. Then I took a wooden skewer (that I had cut in half) and ran it through the middle to hold them together. I used a small cherry tomato for the head and a couple of tooth picks for antenna. I made some flower carrots and cucumbers and put ranch in side the kitty container. I added some pretzels and topped it all off with some yummy flower apples.

Thrifty Fun

2010-09-02T07:12:00.003+09:00

I came across this beauty at the thrift store a couple of weeks ago. It is gorgeous chalk board surrounded by red beadboard. It was marked down to $2 because she was missing a hook. I did not see a broken hook but some amazing potential. Who could pass up an adorable chalkboard like this broken hook or not?!

I was going to paint her but the red is so vibrant and beautiful that I decided to leave it alone. I moved the hooks around so they were on either end of the board and placed a cute fabric flower in the middle. Then I go out my cricut and cut out the words and decorations for the top. I now have a gorgeous Menu board for my kitchen. Maybe this will put an end to the "What's for dinner?" I hear everyday!

So Bad

2010-09-01T14:32:00.001+09:00

I was almost too embarrassed to post this especially right on the heels of my last post but I have to.

Yep I went shopping. I had lunch with my girlfriends today and we decided to walk around the Mall next door. I planned to do a little window shopping and gather ideas but unfortunately it turned into real shopping. In my defense I only bought things I can't seem to make myself like leggings and white t-shirts for the girls. Well and there was that hat I bought for myself...

Typhoon Dress

2010-09-01T08:28:00.006+09:00

We had a typhoon roll across our small island yesterday. It wasn't too severe but we did end up spending the day inside. I decided to spend some time sewing and I made this dress for my oldest daughter. She calls it her typhoon dress! I took the bottom part of a dress that was too small for her and attached one of her tank tops to it. I then added a couple of red bows to complete the dress. It was quick and easy and turned out adorably!

*Check out the parties I have linked up to! Click on Blogs That Inspire!*

Tutorial Tuesday Leg Warmers And More

2010-08-31T07:21:00.005+09:00

There is nothing more adorable than a pair of chubby legs stuffed into leg warmers. No, I am not talking about my legs but those of my soon to be born niece. My sister is due with her 4th baby and second girl in November. I am slowly working on some fun things to send her for the baby. I am trying to bribe/convenience her she should name the baby after me! Don't you think Heather is the most beautiful name ever?

I was able to pick up some cute socks for a dollar at the BX. For those of you not in the military the BX is like a Walmart or Target with better prices but less of a selection. The first thing you need to do to make the leg warmers is cut off the foot part of the socks. I cut mine a little higher than I normally would - you will see way in a moment.

Now you can finish the ends one of two ways. You can fold them under and sew a nice seem at the bottom them OR you can make the ruffly and cute. Since I am a sucker for ruffles I went with the second option. To make the ruffles you want to switch you machine to the tightest possible zig zag stitch and sew around the ends of the fabric. Keep the fabric tight but do not pull it through the machine. The zig zag stitch will create the ruffles as you go along.

Now back to those feet you cut off the socks. I saw a fabulous idea on . She took the feet of her socks and made them ruffly and adorable. I hate to waste fabric so I had to give these cutey ruffled socks a try. To make the socks you are going to finish the ends the same as the leg warmers. Just run a tight zig zag stitch along the top of the socks to create the ruffles.

I think they both turned out super adorable! Now my soon to be born niece will have nice and toasty legs and her big sister can wear the matching ruffled socks. I love 2 for ones!

*Check out the parties I have linked up to! Click on Blogs That Inspire!*

Inspiration and Future Commitments

2010-08-23T12:57:00.005+09:00

I am sure by now all of you have seen the fabulous blog A New Dress A Day. If you haven't you should go there right now! Here is a quote from Marissa that basically sums up the point of the blog

" So long to mall trips and hello to sifting through piles of vintage pieces at flea markets and at neighborhood garage sales. Each day for the entire year, I’m going to introduce a new piece into my existing wardrobe that I’ve found from these places. On top of this, I’m giving myself a budget of $1 a day.
One person’s trash is becoming my treasure this year.
365 days. 365 items of clothing. 365 dollars. "

Marissa is currently on day 266 and has remade some seriously ugly clothes into something fabulous. I spent hours reading the back posts on her blog and I was amazed at her creativity. I really look forward to see what else she creates. Her blog has really become a major inspiration for me when it comes to refashioning clothes.

The end of my 2 month Wardrobe refashion is quickly aproaching. When I started my 2 months without shopping I thought it was going to be hard. I love to shop as much as any girl and I thought not being able to do so was going to be close to unbearable. Turns out I was wrong. I have more than enjoyed the last 2 months. I have spent a lot more time at the thrift stores and shopping my own closet. I find myself daydreaming about new patterns and new items I can create for my girls. It turns out that this whole refashion thing can be a bit addictive.

Even my girls love my new found hobby. Because of the challenge I have not done any traditional back to school shopping for the girls. I was feeling a big guilty about this and offered to take my oldest daughter to get a new outfit for the first day of school. She looked utterly crushed when I suggested it and asked why she could just wear the orange dress I made her. I told her she could still wear it but I thought she might like a new dress for the first day. She shrugged her shoulders and said "Alright but you need to make me some more dresses for the rest of the week." It was the best compliment I could have received!

Since everything is going so well I have decided to make another Wardrobe Refashion commitment but for 4 months this time. I am excited to see what new and fun items I can make for the girls and I!

PS My neighbor should be back this Thursday and my posts will be much more consistent after that. I looking forward to things being less busy and more normal around here.

Food Friday Popcorn Cupcakes

2010-08-20T07:17:00.000+09:00

For my daughters birthday we decided to bring Popcorn cupcakes to her class. They were so simple and fun to make. We made cupcakes and frosted them. Then we added mini marshmallows to the top. We made a cut down the middle of the marshmallows and then squished them back together to make them look more like popcorn. Then we used some yellow Wilton Color Mist to add some "butter" to the top. I made the cupcake wrappers on my computer and printed them out.
My daughter helped me make them and loved how they turned out - so did the kids in her class!

A Little Break

2010-08-17T07:00:00.000+09:00

I am taking a tiny bit of time off this week. I am taking care of my neighbors dog and her 2 girls while she is in Hawaii having surgery. I have a lot on my plate and I have not had much time to work on the million and one projects I have planned. So please excuse me if my posts are few and far between for the next little while.

WINNER!

2010-08-16T07:31:00.001+09:00

The winner of the Feeling Loved Giveaway is:

Amelia B. who said...I've always wanted to see a real Japanese craft book! It would be so fun to read.

Congratulations Amelia and thank you to all of you that entered!

Food Friday Tiny Sandwiches

2010-08-13T07:20:00.001+09:00

Today I decided to make my daughter several tiny sandwiches rather than on big one. I have lots of small cookie cutters so I made her a few different shapes - stars, a flower and a heart. The tiny one on the right hand side is a heart, it is so small you can't really tell! Then I added some broccoli and celery with ranch. I also added some strawberries and cheese on a stick - because everything tastes better on a stick!

Feeling Loved Giveaway

2010-08-10T16:19:00.009+09:00

*THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED*

I am feeling so very loved by all of my followers and readers that I wanted to give you something in return. I have spent the last few days wondering what I could share with you. I wanted it to be something special an0d unique. One of the most unique things about my life is that I currently live in Okinawa, Japan.
So today before I met my friend for sushi (true story) I went out and bought a great Japanese Pattern book. The book is full of childrens clothing patterns. There are items for both boys and girls and the sizes range from 90cm - 140cm (approximately 2T - 10). This books is seriously awesome. So awesome that I thought about keeping it for myself! It was the last one or would have bought 2.

Here is a list of the items you can make with this pattern book.:

2 PajamasTank Top & Boxer BriefsTank Top & Shorts
CamisoleLeggings
Camisole Dress
Smock Top
Smock DressPolo Shirt
Reversible Hooded TeeLong Sleeve ShirtSweat ShirtCapri Pants
Hooded Sweat ShirtBell Bottom PantsGirl's DressReversible Balloon Skirt
Reversible Puff Sleeve Shirt
Balloon Dress
Formal Dress
Formal Jacket

The book is written in Japanese with no English BUT there are lots of pictures to help you through the patterns. If you would like to get an idea of what you can do with this book check out this post on The Train To Crazy. To enter the giveaway leave a comment on this post. The giveaway will be open until midnight (MST) Sunday night. I will draw a random winner and Monday morning I will let you all know who it is. Good Luck!

*THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED*

Tuesday Tutorial A More Girly T-shirt

2010-08-10T07:50:00.001+09:00

For some reason I have an over abundance of white boys undershirts. The entire situation is truly puzzling since I have 2 little girls. Right now the t-shirts are used for pajamas but I have devised a way to make them a little more girly for everyday wear.

The first thing I did was to remove the collar.

Then I used some elastic thread and ran it around the sleeves and the collar. It turned out great and I was beyond pleased with my quick and easy revamp. Unfortunately my daughter was not pleased. She thought the collar of the shirt was much too tight. So I pulled out the the elastic thread and tried to come up with a new plan.

This time around I decided to to run a zig zag stitch around the edge to create a ruffle. Unfortunately it stretched the neckline out and it was much to big when I put it on my daughter. Then it hit me - I should combine the two techniques. So I ran a quick stitch around the collar with some elastic thread.

The end result was perfect! It wasn't too tight and was much more girly than before. My daughter willingly put it on and gave me a great big cheesy smile to show how pleased she was!

Feeling The Love

2010-08-09T14:33:00.002+09:00

I can not believe how many followers I have! There are actually 40 of you who care enough to follow my blog. I started this blog to share my crafty adventures with my family and I never thought anyone else would be interested in them. I am feeling so very loved right now!
To show you all have grateful I am I have an awesome giveaway planned for later this week. So stay tuned for a fun Japanese giveaway.

Food Friday Octopus Hotdogs and Broccoli Trees

2010-08-06T07:26:00.000+09:00

Today's lunch was a lot of fun. I made my daughter octopus hotdogs which turned out super cute. I took an uncooked all beef hotdog and sliced it in half. Then I cut the end to make 4 "legs". I boiled the hotdogs for a few until the legs curled out on their own. I added some ketchup in a small container for dipping. I also made her some broccoli trees (raw broccoli with pretzel trunks) and pineapple skewers. Then I added some of her favorite apple cinnamon rice cakes for dessert.

Tuesday Tutorial Ruffled Leggings

2010-08-03T07:10:00.006+09:00

I was given a handful of tights from my neighbor recently. They were brand new and have never been worn. Part of the reason they hadn't been worn was because winters here tend to be very mild. I knew my girls would never wear the actual tights so I set out to make something they could wear.

The first thing I did was remove the feet of the tight. I could have measured so they cuts would be exact but I choose to eyeball it and it worked out fine. I realize they look uneven but trust me it is just the picture.

I used a zig zag stitch close to the edge to create a ruffled end to each leg. You could always stop here as one ruffle is adorable. I love ruffles and feel that more ruffles are always better so I decided to add one more!

To create the second ruffle I folded the ends inside of themselves.

Then I ran another zig zag stitch around the folded edge creating another ruffle.

The finished project is a pair of double ruffle leggings. The whole project took about 20 minutes start to finish. These will be wonderful for the mild winters we have here on the island.

I am linking up to some GREAT parties. To check them out click on Blogs That Inspire above.

Food Friday Sea Dragon Sandwich

2010-07-30T07:58:00.000+09:00

I use to have another blog - Thinking Outside The Bag. I used the blog to post about the lunches I made for my daughter. When we first arrived on the island she has severe milk allergies and I had to make her lunch for her everyday. Since we are in Japan I use the opportunity to learn more about bento lunches and took advantage of all the cute lunch accessories they have here.

She has since outgrown her allergy (thank goodness) and has decided that school lunches are much cooler than my homemade ones. This means that lunches I make her are fewer and farther between. I have also realized that having 3 blogs is a little crazy and I can't keep up with them all. So I have decided to use Fridays on this blog to post about Food. I will post some of my past lunches, new lunches or just fun food ideas I have come across recently. I am going to start with one of all time favorite lunches -

The Sea Dragon Sandwich

The sea dragon is a tuna, cheese and lettuce sandwich on a mini bagel. I cut the bagel in half. I used the first half for the middle bump adding cheese and lettuce for embellishment. I then cut the second piece of bagel in half again to make the head and the tail. I drew the face on with food coloring markers. The sea dragon is swimming a a sea of Wheat Thin. I added some grape kabobs, celery and carrot stares as well.

This is one of favorite lunches I have ever made. It was so much fun and it turned out so cute! My daughter was thrilled when she caught a glimpse of it before school.

Ruffly Ruffles

2010-07-28T06:58:00.002+09:00

I was able to get several woman's tank tops for a $1 at the thrift store. At the time I wasn't sure what I would do with them but I new I couldn't pass up the $1 price tag! They sat in my fabric box for bit while I waited for some inspiration on what to do with them. Inspiration hit one morning while we were out eating breakfast when I saw a little girl wearing the most adorable ruffled tank dress.
I love ruffles! They add a feminine touch and make everything look beautiful. I have tried to make ruffles in the past but they have never turned out right. This time around I decided to incorporate my new found shirring skills. I used my elastic thread and stitched down the center of each piece of fabric making perfect and easy ruffles!

The first thing I did was put the tank top on my daughter and marked the straps so I knew how much to take in. I used my sewing machine to take in the straps. Then I got to work on my ruffles. I used one of my husbands old white t-shirts to make them. I cut out six 2 inch strips and then I ruffled them using the elastic thread and my sewing machine. I started from the bottom and added 3 ruffles all the way around the tank dress. I had a little bit of left over ruffles so I added a flower to the top. It was such a simple refashion and my daughter absolutely loves the dress!

*To check out the great parties that I am linking up to click Blogs That Inspire above*

Tutorial Tuesday Puffy Sleeved Girls Shirt

2010-07-27T06:47:00.005+09:00

As I was going through this girls closets I found this long sleeved shirt from last winter. It still fit my daughter but she had managed to stain the ends of the sleeves. I decided to see if I could remake it into a nice shirt for summer.

I started with a long sleeved shirt. Notice the stained ends? YUCK!

I measured the sleeve and cut it right at the halfway point.

Then I put a hem around the bottom sleeve. Once I was finished with the hem I used some elastic thread and made 2 stitches up the center of each sleeve. If you are nervous about using elastic thread don't be, it is really very simple. Disney at Ruffles and Stuff has a great tutorial on shirring that will get you started.

Here is the finished product. A cute and sweet puffy sleeved shirt perfect for summer!

For a list of the parties I am linking up to click on Blogs That Inspire.

Flower Necklace

2010-07-23T07:18:00.001+09:00

Now that my girls are older (and less likely to rip them off my neck) I have started to wear necklaces again. My jewlery collection is in sad condition at the moment so I have been slowly trying to build it back up. I scored this adorable necklace from the thrift and decided that it needed it a little something like a gorgeous flower!

I decide to try my making the flowers myself out of some old shirts that I had laying around. I found a great tutorial on MaryJanes and Galoshes on how to make the flower petals. They are fairly easy to make. Basically you use some synthetic material and a candle. You cut out some circles and carefully melt the edges by holding them over the candle. They were so simple and fun to make!
After I finished my flower petals I glued them together and added a vintage button to the center of it. I think it adds the perfect feminine touch to the necklace and I can't wait to wear it!

Little GirlsTank Top Dress

2010-07-21T07:23:00.007+09:00

I have been doing really good with my Wardrobe Refashion challenge! Whenever I get the urge to go shopping I hit the thrift store and see what I can find. During my most recent shopping spree at the thrift store I found these 2 tank tops. I had every intention of keeping the blue one for myself to wear as is but sadly enough it did not fit. All was not lost because I realized that it matched the orange tank top that I had bought for my youngest and I began to come up with a plan. I took the two thank tops and made one adorable dress!

I would love to post instructions or a tutorial on how to make this dress but I have no idea where to even start. I can tell you I used the top of the orange shirt and the bottom of the blue shirt, a thick piece of elastic and a LOT of thread. This dress was very much hit and miss and I spent way more time on it than I should have. In the end the time was worth and it turned out super cute. Now I just have to figure out how to make another one for my older daughter!

Linking Up To:

Tie Another One On

2010-07-19T23:10:00.005+09:00

I think I might have a problem that borders on obsession. Ever since I made my first tie headband I can not stop collecting ties. Every time I head I got to the thrift store I buy at least one tie. The fact that they only cost 25 cents apiece does not help matter. My pile of ties was getting out of control so I figure it was time to make some more tie headbands. I had so much fun making them and I was even able to use some of my vintage buttons that I bought off of Etsy!

Here are a few of the ones I made. That's right I said a few. I have at least this many that I am still working on and even more that I haven't started. Anyone want a headband? Seriously if you want one of these let me know. The striped one and Superman one are taken but the rest are up for grabs! Leave me a message and remember it is first come first serve!

Disclaimer: The headbands are not perfect. I am still figuring out the best way to attach the elastic to the back so the stitches don't look the best. But hey I am giving them to you for free you can' complain!

Copy Cat

2010-07-18T07:06:00.000+09:00

I have realized that some people are naturally creative. I love these types of people. They have an ability to make the most ordinary things extraordinary. I have found that I tend to gravitate towards creative women. All of my friends have some amazing creative ability from cake decorating to writing to sewing. Then there is me.

I am not a naturally creative person. I truly struggle when it comes to the creative part of my life. I am completely unable to come up with original ideas. What I am good at is copying other people. I am a fairly fast learner and can pick up almost anything if someone shows me how. Now that I have been introduced to the world of craft blogs I can find a tutorial for almost anything. I can connect with hundreds of creative women who are willing to show me how to make anything. My list of projects and literally tripled in the past few months. I have been able to make some beautiful things for the girls and I because of the tutorials I have come across on the craft blogs I read. I am total copy cat but I always try to give credit where it is due. I use to just save pictures on my computer for inspiration now I make sure to tag them so I know where they came from.

If I am not copying other Crafters out there I am copying retail items that I have seen. I will be completely honest, most of my creative endeavors stem from the fact that I too cheap to pay for things. One of the first projects I copied was some flower hair clips that I had seen at a craft fair. I made beautiful flower hair clips for the girls because I was not about to pay $15+ for one when I could make it for $2. I often look at things and think "I could make that" so I won't buy it. Sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't but I love trying. I have be able to gain so many new skills through copying those around me!

Shirr Fun

2010-07-16T09:46:00.004+09:00

I decided to teach myself how to shirr this week. I used this fabulous tutorial from Ruffles and Stuff. Disney walks you through every detail and makes it simple. It took me a few attempts but once I felt comfortable with my shirring abilities I decided to tackle a fun T-shirt refashion that I saw on Create and Delegate.

Sorry about the picture. My little model was not in the mood to have her picture taken. After I snapped this one she did this and refused to let me take any more pictures.

My process for this cute t-shirt dress was simple. I did 5 lines of shirring near the top of the t-shirt ( I started about an inch below the sleeves) to create an empire waist. Then I did 2 rows of shirring on the sleeves to make them puffy. I think it turned out great especially for my first attempt at shirring!

My First Refashion

2010-07-05T10:44:00.003+09:00

July 1st marked the beginning of my Wardrobe Refashion 2 month pledge. The funny thing is all I have wanted to do since then is go shopping. I am one of those people who is perfectly happy to go without something UNTIL you tell me I can't. Once you say I can't do something that is all I want to do. I have been good though and resisting my urge to shop.
I decided to refocus my thoughts on my first wardrobe refashion. I will try my best from here on out to take pictures of the process. I was so excited to work on this one that I didn't stop to take a single picture. So all you get this time around is the finished product.

This refashion was simple one. I took one of my old dresses and cut off the top. I sewed some elastic to the top and added some straps and a flower made from an old t-shirt. It was simple and quick but I think it turned out wonderfully!

My Pledge

2010-07-01T21:33:00.001+09:00

The Pledge

I Heather pledge that I shall abstain from the purchase of "new" manufactured items of clothing, for the period of 2 months. I pledge that i shall refashion, renovate, recycle preloved items for myself with my own hands in fabric, yarn or other medium for the term of my contract. I pledge that I will share the love and post a photo of my refashioned, renovoted, recycled, crafted or created item of clothing on the Wardrobe Refashion Blog, so that others may share the joy that thy thriftiness brings!

So Many Ideas!

2010-06-25T10:08:00.002+09:00

I will admit that i have been in a bit of a creative slump lately and the blog has been showing. I think it is time to dust this baby off and get things going again. In the past few days I have been coming up with idea after idea of things I would like to do and the list continues to grow - looks like my creativity is back. I am so overwhelmed with ideas right now I have no idea where to start! I might have to sit down and make a list (I love me a good list) and figure it all out. Oh and I decided to take the Wardrobe Refashion pledge so starting next month you are guaranteed at least a post along with a tutorial every week of July and August. Of course I have way more planned than that so things are going to get pretty exciting around here soon, I promise!

Wardrobe Refashion

2010-06-22T15:38:00.002+09:00

I have become increasingly intrigued by upcycling clothing recently. It all started with the adorable dresses I bought from Ashley at Lil Blue Boo. Her dresses are amazing and inspiring. I love that she can take all of these pieces of old shirts and make them into a fabulous dress. I have always been a thrift store junky (about 80% of my clothing is from the thrift store) but I never thought much beyond that. Then I found Wardrobe Refashion.

Wardrobe Refashion is an amazing blog that showcases different peoples upcycled and handmade clothing items. Those who post on the site have taken the following pledge.

The Pledge
I __________________ pledge that I shall abstain from the purchase of "new" manufactured items of clothing, for the period of 2 / 4 / 6 months. I pledge that i shall refashion, renovate, recycle preloved items for myself with my own hands in fabric, yarn or other medium for the term of my contract. I pledge that I will share the love and post a photo of my refashioned, renovoted, recycled, crafted or created item of clothing on the Wardrobe Refashion blog, so that others may share the joy that thy thriftiness brings! Signed__________________.

There is also a lifetime commitment for the truly bold. I have spent days pouring over every post on the blog. I am so inspired by the things that others have made from an old t-shirt, sheet or thrifted material. It has entirely changed my weekly trips to the thrift store. Instead of looking for items to uses as they are I find myself thinking about what else I can make with them. i find myself looking at fabric rather than clothing items. The last time I hit the thrift store there was a big sale and all of the clothes were $1. I snatched up a bunch of XXL mens shirts for the fabric alone!

Perhaps all of this inspiration is going to my head but I am considering taking the Wardrobe Refashion pledge myself. I have no problem with abstaining from buying new clothing items because like I said I am a thrift store junky. The part that worries me is creating the new items to share. I am still a bit scared of my sewing machine but I am slowly getting use to it. I did have a great time making the Beachcomber Dress! I do realize it is a learning process and perhaps if I "had" to make things it would help. I have a few creative ideas about the clothes I would like to make but if I took the pledge I would need around 8 items to share on the blog. Of course if I took the pledge you would guaranteed at least one clothing tutorial a week from me for the next 2 months!

I am still trying to decide what to do. I am working on a plan and coming up with some things I would like to try and make. Has anyone else taken the pledge before?

Seashell Wreath

2010-06-09T16:59:00.005+09:00

Today my husband, daughter and I headed to the beach. It was a beautiful sunny day that was perfect for collecting seashells. We have collected seashells, coral and sea glass since we arrived on the island 2 years ago. Needless to say I have quite a stash of all the above. I have been trying my best to come up with a project to use them. Inspiration hit when I was blog hopping and came across a gorgeous seashell wreath. I really wish I could remember whose blog it was! Today I decide to sit down and see what I could make.
I was worried how all the different colored shells and sea glass would go together but I think it turned out fabulously. It is the perfect summer wreath - if I do say so myself!

I am linking up to

Beachcomber Dress

2010-05-31T08:33:00.001+09:00

Last week Disney from Ruffles and Stuff did a wonderful tutorial for her Beachcomber Dress. It was a gorgeous dress that she made from one of her husbands old shirts. I love anything upcycled! Plus I have an entire bin full of my husbands old shirts so I had to give it a try.

I loved how it turned out! My baby is a bit tall so it is more of a tunic than a dress, she also refused the belt. Of course if you look at the pictures you can tell she was not interested in modeling for me at all and had to be bribed with candy to even stand still! This was such a simple tutorial and quick dress to make I am going to have to whip up a few more for her.

Swap Package - Better Late Than Never!

2010-05-29T18:27:00.005+09:00

If you read this post you know I participated in Short Mama's Spring Swap. I had some much fun picking out some great Okinawan items for my partner over at Duck, Duck, Cow. I was beyond thrilled when my package arrived. Of course this was well over a month ago. Life was incredibly hectic at the time and I just did not have the time to sit down and blog about it. I am embarrassed that it has taken me this long to get this post up but better late than never right?

First of all I have to say that Jessica is amazing. When I opened the packaged sitting on the very top were 2 suckers with note that said to give them to the girls immediately so I could open my package in peace. Isn't she brilliant? The next thing I noticed was the beautiful paper my gifts were wrapped in. I am a sucker for anything pink and black! Things just got better from there. The package was full of all sorts of fabulous goodies such as:
*Gorgeous scrapbook paper (I have so many projects in mind for these!)

*Ribbon and Clips to make hair bows for the girls (cute ribbon is hard to come by here!)

*A great flower silicone ice cube tray (and it's pink!)

*A beautiful blue necklace and earring set (that I have already worn a bunch)

*An adorable picnic basket full of springy magnets (most of them are on my fridge)

*A bag of delicious mini cadbury eggs (those are long gone!)

*A bowl full of royal icing flowers (I am so excited to use these on a cake!)

*An cute package of tissues (for all those seasonal sniffles)

*A yummy smelling bar of soap (that is way too pretty to use!)

I could not have asked for a better swap partner or a better package!! Thank you Jessica.

PS There are some things missing from the picture, it is because I have already used them or I was wearing them and forgot to take them off to add them to the picture - like my adorable necklace.

Wreath Update

2010-03-27T10:12:00.004+09:00

It is getting warmer here and spring is here. I decided that my door needed an new look for spring. Rather than make a whole new wreath I thought I would update my St. Patty's Day wreath. I know I could have saved it for next year but there is very little storage space in this house and my tastes change often. I am sure by next year I will have a new idea for a fun St. Patty's Day wreath!
The first thing I did was remove the clovers. I did keep them clovers so I could put them on some hair clips for the girls. Then I added some fun felt flowers. They are just strips of felt folded and glued together.Then I added some vintage buttons to the centers. It was quick and simple to put together and I love it!

2 Cupcake Stands

2010-03-24T19:05:00.000+09:00

I have decided to try something different this year and buy one small personal cake and cupcakes for her guests. My friend Angie is making the cakes! I have spent the last couple of months searching high and low for a cupcake stand for my daughters birthday party. I found and bought a cupcake stand but the way it stacks makes it impossible to place a small cake at the top. Since I couldn't find what I want I decided to build one.

I found some wooden circles at Navel Kadena (a local hardware store) and a tall wooden cylinder to place between them. I spray painted everything black and added some pink vinyl stars (love my cricut!) to them. Then I used my trusty gorilla glue and glued it all together. I was simple, easy and fairly cheap.
The only problem was that I could only find 1 circle in each size that I needed and since it is a joint party I needed two cupcake stands. I had planned to wait until the stocked more stands but as the party started getting closer it didn't look like it was going to happen. I began to search for other ways to build a cupcake stand. While I was at the thrift store last week I happened across some black plates and knew I had found my solution.

A few plates some tiny glasses (that will be filled with pink candy the day of the party) and some pink vinyl stars and I had a second cupcake stand. I think they both turned out fabulously and I can't wait to add the cake and cupcakes to them!

Rock Star Hair

2010-03-21T19:16:00.005+09:00

While I was searching on Oriental Trading company for party goods I came across the most adorable little gift bags. They were already put together and the price was fabulous so I decided to order them. I had MAJOR problems with the shipping and it took OTC over a month to get me the items! I was so happy when the bags arrived because they were even cuter than they looked on line. They were full of fun party items: a star clapper, guitar pic necklace, rock star bracelet, inflatable microphone, rock star key chain, stick on body jewels, rock star rubber ducky and rock star hair.

Scary isn't it? It was also made to go over a pony tail which didn't seem very practical so I decided to put my fear of synthetic hair aside (it freaks me out to touch it!) and remake the hair piece. I took an alligator clip and some cute jewels and made a clip in hair piece fit for a rock star.

I love the way they turned out and can't wait to see them on all the girls at the party!

Rock Star Party Invitations

2010-03-21T12:08:00.004+09:00

It is almost time to party like a rock star! My daughter requested a rock star party for her birthday this year. She is having a joint party with our neighbors daughter again this year. Here is a link to the post on her party from last year. I REALLY enjoy planning her parties and this year was no exception. Her actual party isn't for another couple of weeks due issues with booking just the right location. I have been slowly working on all the little projects for it. Rather than do one big post after the big day I am going to slowly post bits and pieces until then. I thought I would start with the invitations.

I had really hoped to be able to buy the invitations but wasn't able to find anything I liked. So I sucked it up and got to work on some custom ones. I decided to add an extra backstage pass in for fun. The invitations themselves took me forever but that was mostly because I have math issues and kept screwing up the measurements. This is also the reason we went from a folded card to a post card style. The feathers were an after thought but I love the detail they add. Don' tell my daughter that I used her falling apart feather boa! It took me awhile to finish all 16 cards and passes but they were totally worth the work. Now I need to get to work on the cupcake stand!

A Spring Vase

2010-03-18T19:50:00.004+09:00

The weather here has been very odd lately. It will be warm and sunny for a few days only to be overcast, rainy and chilly for the next few days. It does this over and over again and I am starting to get very confused! Every time I think spring is here it gets chilly again. I am so excited for spring and sunny weather! I decided to do a little spring craft to cheer me up on one of those chilly rainy days.

Twine Flower Vase

You Need:
Vase or Jar (looks don't matter as you are covering it)
twine
cute ribbon
lots of glue and glue gun

I was able to score my cute glass vase from the thrift store for a dollar. When I bought it I had no idea what I would do with until I came across some twine in my craft supplies!

The first thing you want to do is make you ribbon rose buds. (there is a tutorial on this post if you would like to know how to make them) I made 3 rose buds for my vase but you can make as many or as few as you would like. Set your roses aside and grab your twine and get started wrapping your vase. I started at the bottom and used big dabs of glue every now and then. If you would like a tightly wrapped vase just push your twine down as you go to keep it as tight as possible. Once you get a few lines of twine on the vase you will get into a rhythm of sorts and it will go much faster after that. Depending on the size of your vase you could be at this awhile. It took me about 30 minutes to wrap my vase but I was interrupted a few times. After you vase is wrapped add your rose buds and secure with a few dabs of hot glue. I placed my on the vase so they would cover a few overly glued places on the vase.
Place some beautiful flowers in your vase and step back and enjoy your beautiful vase!

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Spring Swap

2010-03-18T13:40:00.000+09:00

ShortMama over at Family of Shorts is hosting a Spring Swap and I think it looks like loads of fun. I have decided to play along and can't wait to round up some fun spring items to send off!

Yo, Yo!

2010-03-08T11:40:00.007+09:00

As I was browsing around the 100 yen store (what would be a dollar store back in the states) a couple weeks ago I came a cross a package of some fabric yo yo's. They were just adorable so I bought them. I realize that buying pre-made yo-yo's is a bit lazy BUT they were only 100 yen so I had to have them. I pulled them out the other day and made some fun things with them.

I made a burlap bracelet. You can find the tutorial on Tatertots an d Jello

Since I already had the burlap out I decided to make some hair clips.

Then I decided to use the tie from one of the my daughter's old dresses to make a headband.
I think all the projects turned out great. What have you made with yo-yo's lately?

St. Patty's Day Wreath

2010-03-07T12:51:00.001+09:00

I will admit that I rarely decorate or even celebrate St.Patty's Day. I always wear green (for fear of getting pinched) but that is about as far as I go. This year however I decided a need a little more green in my life so I whipped up this wreath.

St. Patty's Day Wreath

You Need:
A styrofoam wreath
Green Ribbon
White Ribbon
Green Felt
Burlap
Embellishments
A glue gun

The first thing you need to do is make the clovers. I used That's So Cuegly's ribbon flower tutorial. I just used 3 petals instead of 5 and I added a rolled piece of ribbon for the stem. I also used some cute beads to hide the glue in the center.
Next you want to wrap half of your wreath with the white ribbon. Then you need to cut your felt into long strips, try to keep the thickness of the strips about the same as the ribbon. Don't worry to much about making the strips perfect mine were all crazy crooked and you can't even tell! Wrap the rest of the wreath with the felt. Take a strip of burlap and fray the ends. Fold it in half and then wrap it around the wreath where the felt and ribbon meet. Repeat. Cut another long strip of burlap and use it to tie a bow at the top for the wreath. Last but not least glue your adorable clovers onto the bottom of the wreath. Now you have a fantastic St. Patty's wreath for you door!

I should tell you that my finished product was not at all what I had intended. I had planned to just wrap the wreath with white ribbon and then attach the clovers. Then I ran out of ribbon and had to improvise with some green felt but it didn't look quite right so I added the burlap and I love it!

Scrap Fabric Bracelets

2010-02-24T22:40:00.012+09:00

I haven't had much time to myself lately, life has just been crazy around here for the past week. I have been itching to work on some craft projects and I was finally able to tonight. My hubby and girls all fell asleep early!
I am working on some big projects that require patience and drying time - both of which are hard for me. I hate to wait so I decided to fill my time with a easy project. I grabbed some silicone bracelets from the $1 section a couple of weeks ago and here is what I decided to make with them.

Scrap Fabric Bracelets

You Need:
Silicone or Plastic Bracelets
Fabric
Glue

Here is a picture of the bracelets I started with. They were not cute but for a dollar I figured I could make something beautiful out of them!
The first thing I did was cut my fabric into long strips. I was not careful about this and my strips were all crazy and uneven which I think made the bracelets look even better. Then I stretched my bracelets out a bit - they were a little tight.

Next I took a strip of fabric and attach it to the bracelet with glue - I used my trusty glue gun.
Then I began to wrap the fabric around the bracelet. I added a dab of glue here and there to make it hold better.
After the bracelet was all wrapped I made a simple wrap flower to go on it (directions are here) but you could add any embellishment you want.
I love my new bracelets and can't wait to wear them! They were simple and quick to make and it made waiting for my other projects to dry so much easier!

I am linking up too:

T-Shirt Headbands

2010-02-16T07:14:00.001+09:00

On Thursday I made my weekly visit to the Thrift store on base. Yes I really do go to the thrift store that often! As I was walking in I noticed a sign advertising their Valentines Day sale - all their clothing was $1.00 and pink or red items were half off. The clothing was a bit picked over but I was able to find some great clothes to re-purpose. I found a few great te-shirts and I spent today cutting them apart for various projects like this one:

T-Shirt Headbands

You will need:
an old t-shirt
scissors
hot glue

The first things I did was cut the bottom hem off of the shirts to use for the flowers. Then I cut a piece to use for my headband. The first piece I cut out was the exact thickness that I wanted my headband to be which was a big mistake. I didn't account for the fabric rolling a bit and I wasn't sure I like how thin it was so I cut a new thicker piece. I wanted a nice long headband that I could tie in the back so I cut all the way around the shirt and then cut through one seam. After I finished cutting the headbands I got started on the roses.

I took my strip of fabric and tied a knot in the end.

Then I began rolling and twisting the strip, applying glue every now and then. Once I had my flowers the desired size I tuck the extra under the flower and glued it in place. Then I glue my flowers on my headbands and I was all done. It was an easy and quick project which are my favorite!

I am linking up to:

and

Valentine Flip Book

2010-02-08T07:56:00.002+09:00

I love the cards that we made for my daughter's class but I wanted to make something a little different for family. Since I knew there is no way they would recieve anything before Valentines day ( the downside of living of overseas!) I wanted to make something they could use all year. I came across a cute idea on Color Me Katie. If you have never read her blog you should check it out - she is amazing!

Valentine Flip Book

You will need:
A camera
A printer
paper
ribbon

The first thing I did was a take a picture of my daughter blowing a kiss. This was a little trickier than it sounds. She kept making upset faces and it was a challenge to explain to her that she need to smile and blow a kiss! After a couple dozen tries I finally got a picture we could use.
I uploaded the picture to my computer and then opened my Photoshop Elements. After I edited and cropped the picture I looked through my graphics to find the perfect heart. Then I added the hearts one at a time saving the picture under a different name each time. Now if you don't have Photoshop you can use Picnik online or you could draw the hearts on yourself after you print out the pictures. I wanted to make small flip books so I printed my pictures out at 2.5 X 3.5 which meant I could print them all on one page of paper.
Once the pictures were printed I cut them out and tied a little bit of twine through the pages to hold the pages together.
Now I have a great Valentines gift for family. Whenever they are missing us they can pull it out and get a little love from my daughter!

I am linking up to:

Valentine Cards

2010-02-07T06:58:00.000+09:00

I worked on a couple of fun Valentines gifts with my daughter over the weekend. The first thing we did was make her Valentines card. I had no idea what I was going to do but as soon as I stumbled upon this fabulous card made by 24-7-365 and I knew I had to recreate it. It was beyond simple to make - all I had to do was buy a bag of suckers.
I started with a picture of my daughter holding her hand out. I do own Photoshop elements but I wanted to add some extra Valentine fun to the card so I headed over to Picnik. I used the CinemaScope and Bokeh Hearts effects. If you have never used Picnik you have to try it! It is free (but you can upgrade to get extra features) and there are so many fun things you can do to your photos. I spent quite awhile playing around with my daughters picture and checking out all the features! I love that I was able to add text to the picture as well. Once I had her picture perfect

I saved it to my computer and then printed it out on 4x6 photo paper. Then I took my exacto knife and made a slit above and below her hand, slide in the sucker and clapped my hands with glee because our Valentine Card was done. Now just multiply the last part by 17 and with Hairspray playing in the background and that was how I spent my Friday night!
My daughter thinks they are wonderful and can't wait to hand them out on Friday.

Valentines Decorations

2010-02-05T08:58:00.010+09:00

It is raining here and it is has been all week. Normally I love the rain but it has really messed with my plans for this week. I have several projects that I have started that require sanding and painting - 2 bookshelves, a coffee table and these awesome file cabinets that I found. We don't have a garage or basement in the house and so there is really no inside location where I can do this. I tried to work on them inside but my hubby got a little upset! Since I had to put those projects on the back burner for a bit I thought I would make some Valentines decorations for the house. The rain has been bumming me out a bit so I thought the pretty decorations might cheer things up a bit!
The first thing the girls and I did was make a banner for the stairs. It was SUPER simple but it turned out so cut. I just took a piece of 2 inch thick ribbon and measured the length of the stairs. Then we glued different colored paper doilies onto the ribbon. The white ones looked a little bare so we took some glue and glitter and added some pink hearts to the middle. I think my 2 year olds favorite part was the glitter especially since I found it sprinkled on my couch later. She is right - everything looks better with sparkles!

After the banner was done I decided to make was a new wreath for the door. I was totally torn between these two wreathsThis one was made by Domestifluff and you can find her tutorial here. I couldn't find white felt so I bought pink instead!

This beauty was made by Tatortots and Jello out of cupcake liners. You can find her tutorial for it here.
I headed to the store and see which one I could find supplies for and as luck would have it I found everything I needed for both! So I bought all the supplies and decided to figure out which one to make later. That night I grabbed all the supplies and decided to put one of the two together. I ended up making the cupcake liner wreath. Why? Well I couldn't for the life of me locate a single pair of scissors!

Cupcake Liner Wreath

You Need:
Lots of Cupcake Liners (I used about 125)
A styrofoam wreath (I found mine at the craft store on Kadena)
glue gun
any desired embellishments

Normally I would give you directions on how to make this beauty BUT there are all on Tatertots and Jello's post along with some wonderful pictures. Follow her directions! I learned the hard way that you need the wrap the styrofoam wreath with ribbon first. I was being lazy and decided just to glue the liners right on. Turns out hot glue melts styrofoam! I made it work but I had to use a lot more glue and hold the cupcake liners in place for minute.
Over all the wreath was simple to make, it just takes lots of glue and lots of cupcake liners! I ended up using about 125 liners on mine. It seems like a lot but I just grabbed 3 packages of 50 ct. liners from the dollar section at the BX. I even have some left over to make yummy cupcakes in. My cupcakes liners have little hearts all over them! I did flip my liners inside out before I glued them on so you could see the hearts better. After all the liners were on I grabbed a little heart paper doily that I had and glued it to the top.

I love how the wreath turned out but there is no way I putting it outside until this rain stops!

An Old Crate

2010-01-26T19:20:00.007+09:00

A couple of weeks ago I decided to take some items over to the thrift store here on base. Of course I forgot my donation bags but decided that since I was already there I would have a look around. It is pretty hard to find good items at the thrift store here. Oh how I miss the DI and Goodwill! I wasn't sure I would find anything especially considering the massive pile of donations sitting by the front counter. I guess they hadn't put anything out since before the holidays. So imagine my shock when I found this little beauty right here.

For only $2 I couldn't pass it up and for once I had a plan. A little paint, modge podge, scrapbook paper and some cute tacks and I turned that old crate into this:

Isn't it just beautiful? I needed a place to put my jewelry and glasses and that old crate made the perfect display for them. I am going to hang it up high on my bedroom wall and cross my fingers that a certain 2 year old can't get to it.

I linking up to:

Heart Shaped Crayon Melts

2010-01-25T07:00:00.000+09:00

We had a lot of crayons at our house - an entire large sized ziploc bag to be exact. I decided to go through and pull out the broken ones so we could make some crayon melts. My girls helped me peel all the wrappers off and had a fabulous time breaking all the crayons into small pieces. To be totally honest the broken pieces sat in a bag for a couple days before I decided what to do with them. I had fully intended on using a muffin tin to make some round crayons until I came across a cute little heart shaped silicone pan at the store. The girls helped me sort the crayons and pile them in the trays to get them ready to bake. We had extra crayons so I pulled out my mini muffin silicone tray for the rest. This was a big MISTAKE. I am warning you now do not use any tray that you care about. The crayon does not come all the way out of the tray so you can never bake with them again. I now have three silicone trays that will always be used to make crayons!
At this point I realized I had no idea how long or at what temperature to bake the crayons. I did a quick google search and came across dozens of different ways. I decided to go with Close To Homes directions and ended up changing them just a bit.

You Need:
broken crayon
heart shaped or round silicone baking tray (that you don't love)
oven

Preheat your oven to 225. Remove all the crayon wrappers and discard. Break the crayons into small pieces and place them in the tray. You can sort them by color like we did or just pile them in there and see what you end up with.
Place the trays on a cookie sheet for stability and place them in the oven. Bake until all the crayons are melted. We started with 5 minutes but ended up baking them for almost 15. The time really depends on how thick you layer your crayons - ours were pretty thick.
Once the the crayons are all melted removed the trays and place them in the freezer. I cleared off the top shelf of mine and just stuck the entire cookie sheet in. Let the cook in the freezer for about 15 minutes. Now you can pop out your beautiful heart crayons and start coloring. My girls spent the entire evening making valentines with their crayons!

I Need Help!

2010-01-22T07:06:00.001+09:00

I want to learn how to sew. I love handcrafted items and clothing and I want to learn how to make things for myself rather than buying them. I told my husband that I wanted a sewing machine for my birthday in March. Well about 2 weeks ago I scored an awesome deal on a sewing machine. I found it on a local sales website Okinawa Yard Sales. It is a lower end Brother BUT it was only $50 so I felt it was totally worth it.
I should point out that I am scared of sewing machines. I have this fear of sewing over my finger. I have sewed items before but it has been years and years since I have even touched a sewing machine. I was really excited to play with my new sewing machine and I was able to sew a few very crooked lines before my 2 year old un-threaded it for me. As soon as I figured out how to re-thread it my lower bobbin was empty so I had to figure that out. All this took me a couple of days! Since then all I have done is sew a few more crooked lines.
Needless to say I haven't sewn a thing. I can't sew straight or perfect so I don't want to make anything. BUT I know that if I don't practice I will never figure it out. So I need some help. Do any of you know of some easy beginner projects that I could make. I honestly don't care what it is as long as it is simple. I would really really appreciate any help you all can give!

Teacher Gift

2010-01-21T21:36:00.000+09:00

If you can't tell yet I am posting all of the gifts I made during Christmas.
This is the gift we made for my daughters teacher. As I was searching for gift I ideas I cam across one about making an anagram using the teachers name on canvas. I am sorry I just cannot remember who posted the idea! I decided to take it a step further and combine it with the Imperfect Family Rules canvas from The Pleated Poppy.
My daughter helped me come up with all the descriptive words and then I printed them out in different fonts on different pieces of scrapbook paper. Honestly this took me forever but I was having trouble with the modge podge and paper. I remade it twice before I was happy with it but in the end it turned out adorable.
It is currently hanging in Mrs. Casey's classroom for everyone to see - my daughter couldn't be prouder!

Family Rules Board

2010-01-20T21:36:00.000+09:00

If you haven't read about the Imperfect Family Rules board on The Pleated Poppy you need to go here right now and do so. This is one of the best craft ideas that I came across last year! This project is what got me back into crafting and forever addicted me to craft blogs!!!
I modified mine a bit to make it fit my circumstances. I had to make mine a lot smaller than her's because 11X13 was the largest canvas the craft store had at the time. I have noticed that they have larger pieces recently and I am thinking about remaking it. I think the smaller piece worked well because I was able to use my printer to do everything. My other problem with it is that I am not in love with the scrapbook paper I used but again it was all I could find at the time. Despite all of that I think it turned out adorable and I love showing it off. It is such a fun and unique reminder of our family rules!

Picture Tiles

2010-01-19T21:09:00.000+09:00

Here is another gift I made for my family for Christmas. I bought a large thing of tiles at Makeman (the local hardware store) without much thought of what I would do them. After staring at them for a long time I finally decided to try and make a cute wall hanging for my family. I love this picture of my girls and I new it would look adorable hanging on the wall!

Picture Tiles

You Need:
A super adorable picture
White Tiles ( I got mine at Makeman for a great price!)
Modge Podge
Jute or Ribbon for the edge
Glue Gun
Embellishments

I wish I could say the first thing I did was measure the tile so I knew what size picture to print out but I didn't. Instead I printed about 20 pictures in various sizes before I guess right. You should learn from my mistake and measure you tile first. Of course as I am typing this I am thinking that American tiles might say the measurements on the box. It is entirely possible these did too but I can't read Kanji so I couldn't tell you for sure!
After you print out your picture you want to let it dry really well or the modge podge will make the ink smear - learned that by mistake too! Once it is dry you are going to attach it to the tile with modge podge. Make sure you put modge podge on both the front of the tile and the back of the picture. You can put as many layers of modge podge on it as you need, I think I put 3 cause it seemed like a nice number.
Next you want to take your jute or ribbon and glue it around the edges . Then you can add any fun embellishments you would like. I didn't want to overshadow the picture so I kept mine minimal. Now find the perfect spot to show off you new adorable tile picture!

Wooden Block Picture Holders

2010-01-18T20:47:00.000+09:00

I made these adorable picture holders for my Mother and Mother in Law for Christmas. Yes I do still have them. No I didn't get them shipped off for Christmas like I planned. I am allergic to the Post Office. Ok maybe I just hate going there and can never seem to get a package to where it is suppose to be on time and my family will be lucky to get their gifts from last year before Christmas this year. *sigh* Being allergic just sounds so much better! I whipped up these little cuties with items I had on hand. Everything I used was left overs from other projects.

Wooden Block Picture Holders
(nice title right? I couldn't come up with anything better)

You Need:
small wooden blocks (if you live on Okinawa I have seen them at the large 100 yen store already cut)
letters
scrapbook paper
modge podge
clothes pins
glue gun
and any cute embellishments you would like to add

The first thing you want to do is sand any roughness off of your blocks. You can also paint the blocks if you would like. My blocks were already painted because they were left over from an earlier project.
Next you want to trace you block onto a piece of scrapbook paper and cut out the shape. Use modge podge and glue the scapbook paper to the block. Set the blocks aside to dry and follow the same steps for the top of your clothes pins. You can put as many coast of modge podge as you need too on both the block and clothes pins. I think I did about 3 on each but I am an over achiever like that - heaven forbid the paper start to peel up!
After both the block and the clothes pins are dry you will use you glue gun to attach the clothes pins to the blocks.
Now you can apply your letters with your glue gun or modge podge depending on thickness. The letters you use are really up to you. You could use anything from stickers to ones you cut out yourself. I used my glue gun to apply some cardboard ones I had mixed in with scrapbooking stuff. Now you can add any embellishments you want. I rummaged around in my scrapbooking stuff to find some fun things.
Last step is to add a cute picture and find a place to show off your new creation!

Coming Soon

2010-01-15T18:15:00.000+09:00

Sorry for the lack of posts this week. I have a million and one projects I am working on right now and I am so excited to post them. The problem is that all of them are lacking one item or another - one item that I can not for the life of me find. Oh how I miss Home Depot and Lowes right now!
One of the main things I can't find is clear acrylic paint or glaze or anything to put on the top of my recently painted objects. All they had at my trusty BX is spray paint and they just happened to be out of all the cans of acrylic paint. And of course they are unsure of when they get more in. I have looked bit off base but my inability to read kanji letters is making it hard. I am going to try another place tomorrow and cross my fingers that I can convey what I want through my limited Japanese and hand gestures. Wish me luck!
Oh and I just got a sewing machine (for $50 - awesome deal right?) so I am learning how to use that. I am going to start my first project soon and I can't wait to show it off!
Anyway my point is that I promise to be post new items very soon or at least as soon as they are done!

Costume Jewelry Headbands

2010-01-11T20:28:00.000+09:00

When my Grandmother passed away I inherited a some of her costume jewelry. For some reason I ended up with quite a few single clip on earrings. I have held onto them for years not knowing quite what to do with them, but I knew I couldn't get rid of them. I decided to put a couple of them to good use today and jazz up some store bought headbands that I had.

You Will Need:
Funky Vintage Clip on Earring
Headband of your choice
some cute fabric
flower template from Wise Craft or a flower shaped cookie cutter
tulle
a glue gun or fabric glue and E6000 glue

The first thing you need to do is remove the clip from the back of your earring. I just bent and twisted and bent mine some more until I got it off. Next you want to cut out 4 flowers from your cute fabric. I provided a link to the template I found on Wise Craft - I used 4 of the larger flowers. You could also use a small flower shaped cookie cutter if you have one. Next cut out 4 flowers from your tulle. I just folded my tulle over 4 times so I only have to cut out one flower. Now you are going to fold the fabric and tulle flowers in half and arrange them like so.

Just imagine there is tulle in there. The picture is actually from another post but if should give you an idea of how to layer them. I did cheat a bit and glue the tulle to the fabric to make arranging them easier!
Now you can either sew the flower pieces in place OR be lazy like me and glue them. I used my glue gun but I am sure fabric glue would work just as well. Take your earring and glue it into the center of your flower, again I used my glue gun but E-6000 would go a great job as well. Last step is to glue your flower to your headband and it is ready to wear. I got super lazy with the brown headband and just glued the earring on without a flower or anything.

I love headbands and I am so excited to wear these!
I am linking up to:

From Shirt Tie to Flower Headband

2010-01-09T21:54:00.001+09:00

For Christmas my MIL sent my girls a bunch clothes. Among all the cute outfits was a random and way too big top that was not suppose to be in there. When I asked her about it she said it was a mistake and to just give it away. Of course I could do that so I decided to see what I could make out of it. The first thing I did was cut off all of the random ties on it. I couldn't just throw the ties away so I decided to see what I could make out of them. I grabbed my glue gun and this is what I came up with

Rosebud Headband

Items You Need:
Glue Gun
Headband
Fabric Ties off an old shirt or thing strips of fabric

The rosebuds was very simple to make. I took the fabric tie and added a dab of glue to the end and rolled in. Once I had a tiny center I started twisted the fabric tie around the center and twirling it at the same time. I stopped and added a dab of glue every now and then to help it hold together. Once I thought the rosebuds were big enough I added one last dab of glue and folded the remaining part of the tie underneath and glued it in place. I made three rosebuds and then I glued them onto a stretchy elastic headband for my daughter. They held up great - I let my 2 year old wear it to test it out! Next time I think I will back them with a little bit of felt for a cleaner look.

A New Wreath

2010-01-09T20:00:00.000+09:00

I have had this project in the back of my head ever since I saw this beautiful wreath on Tatertots and Jello.

Click on the picture for the tutorial

Isn't it just gorgeous? She does some amazing things with burlap. I was super impressed by some of her earlier projects so I tried to find some burlap to re-create them. Sadly I couldn't find any one the island. If you live here and have seen it somewhere please tell me!
So when I decided to make the wreath I had to come up with something that would work like burlap. Of course I dug through that pile of clothes that was headed to the thrift store and found a pair of jeans Bella had outgrown along with a pair of pants I was never going to wear. I knew if I made it out of denim it would drive my husband nuts! It is an ongoing joke with us. For some reason he thinks I am obsessed with things made out of denim. I am not sure how it started but I find it funny so I buy and make things out of denim just to drive him nuts!
I put this together the day after Delilah passed away. It was nice to take my mind off of things. The bad part is that I was so focused on it that I didn't snap one in progress picture. So all you get is the end result

Please ignore the dirty door!

I think it turned out adorable. I still need to come up with a bow or something for the bare spot at the top. I need to find some twine or ribbon for it.
Brandon hates it. In fact he told me not to post it unless I wanted to lose all of my followers. I just laughed and hung it up anyway!

Old Shirt to New Dress

2010-01-09T19:50:00.000+09:00

I have been rather obsessed lately with making old things into something new. My latest project was making an old shirt of mine into a new dress for Evie. I have owned this shirt for years and while I wear it occasionally it really isn't the most flattering top on me. I love the fabric and I didn't want to just get rid of it. After looking it over I realized that it would make the perfect sundress for Evie. The fabulous smocking meant I didn't even have to take it in.

Sorry about the pictures they were a bit of an after thought. Oh and the straps are even they just look funny in the picture!

Here is everything I did to make this adorable dress.
Step 1. I removed the bottom of the shirt just above the smocking. I decided I liked the raw edge look and left a little at the top.
Step 2. I removed the smocked neckline at the top of the shirt. I knew it was make perfect straps for the dress. I then cut it in half.
Step 3. I wrestled with Evie to get the dress on her so I could do a quick measurement on the straps. She was not happy and it didn't work as well as I would have liked. I pretty much had to guess on them.
Step 4. I sewed on the straps by hand. I still don't have a machine but I hope to get one soon. I stabbed myself a whole bunch so I am pretty happy I didn't get any blood on the shirt!
Step 5. After looking at the dress I realized that something was missing. It needed a flower and bow. So I used the leftover fabric from the top of shirt to make the flower and the ties from the top to make a cute little bow.

The dressed turned out super cute and I love it. Evie refused to put it back on so I could take a picture. She was busy in her tent and wasn't about to come out!

Old Tie Remake

2010-01-09T19:45:00.000+09:00

The past few days we have been trying to get the closet and things cleaned out so we can start the New Year fresh. Both my Brandon and I ended up with a fairly good size pile of items to take to the thrift store. When I noticed that he had a bag full of old ties I immediately grabbed them and put them in with my fabric. I wasn't sure what I would do with them but I knew I couldn't just give them away.

I took them out today and looked over them to see if I could decide what to do with them. It didn't take me long to realize that they would make some fabulous headbands!

Ok the bottom one wasn't made out of a tie. That is the waistband of a shirt I was giving away!

Tie Headbands

You will need:
thread and needle
an old tie
thick elastic

Cut the bottom part off of the tie. Since the tie tappers on one end and gets wider on the other I cut out a middle piece so that it was more or less even. Measure and cut what you need. I used the sophisticated measuring technique of wrapping it around my head to see how much I needed.
Take the bottom part of the tie take out the stitching, and remove the liner. You are going to use the bottom part to make the flowers. You can either cut your own version free hand or head over to Wise Craft and read her great tutorial. Then you can use this great template like I did.
Take the top part of the tie and fold over and sew the ends. Then add a small piece of elastic between them so it looks like this.

Once you finish you can attach your pretty flower you made.
Now go and admire you beautiful new headband in the mirror. Mine was instantly taken and worn by someone...

Mustache On A Stick

2010-01-09T19:28:00.000+09:00

Last week my daughter began rattling off a list of girls in her class that she would like to give Christmas gifts to. I think she may have named every girl in class. After a long discussion we decided that we would make a gift for everyone in her class so no one felt left out. The girls were easy - we would make them flower hair clips. I will do a post on them later. The boys were a bit harder. I don't have boys so I am never sure what a 6/7 year old boy would want. I wanted it to be something that would be easy to make and fun. After much thought came up with these:

Mustache On A Stick

I found a great post about these on Simply Modern Mom of course she used stiff felt for hers and drew the pattern herself. I am not creative enough to draw my own mustache so I did a little search and found a pattern on Martha Stewart and used that to draw my mustaches. I tried my hardest to find some black stiff felt but there wasn't any anywhere. I grabbed a sheet of brown foam and crossed my fingers that it would work and it did. I think they turned out adorable. I wasn't sure what to use for the stick and after the black felt hoopla I didn't feel like running around trying to find something. So I headed to the kitchen and grabbed some of my wooden skewers. I broke the pointy tip off the top and hot glued the sticks to a mustache. I made sure the smooth end was at the bottom. The only thing that could make these better is some fake fur to cover them - if you can't guess I couldn't find any. Still I think they turned out adorable and my daughter loves them.

Modge Podge Letter

2010-01-09T19:27:00.000+09:00

I have recently fallen head over heels in love with Modge Podge. It may possibly be the greatest crafting item ever invented. You can use it on everything and believe me I have. I first discovered it earlier this month while I was working on my big sisters Christmas gift. I can not show it to you until after Christmas cause she reads this blog. Since then I have been using it on everything. Here is an example of what you can do with Modge Podge.

Scrapbook Letters

Items you will need:

Cute Scrapbook Paper I got mine at the craft store on Kadena but the BX currently has some super cute pads

Wooden Letter The Craft Store on Kadena has tons of these in a few different sizes

Modge Podge The Craft store on Kadena also carries this

Small brush to apply the Modge Podge

Any embellishments you want to add I used my fabric flower I made and some string out of my scrapbooking stash

*********************

Take your letter flip it over and trace it onto the backside of your chosen sheet of scrapbook paper. Cut out the letter and Modge Podge the paper to the your wooden letter. When using Modge Podge with paper is best to dilute it with a little bit of water. You want to put Modge Podge on the back of your paper and the surface of the letter. Line up the edge and press it down while smoothing it at the same time. Then paint a layer of Modge Podge over the top. The paper will bubble a bit but don't worry it will smooth out as it dries. After it is dries you can paint as many more layers of Modge Podge on the top as you would like. I did 3 coats on my letter to make sure it was good and sealed. Then add your desired embellishments and you have a super cute letter to hang on the wall!

Fabric Flower Hair Clips

2010-01-09T19:25:00.000+09:00

During the Summer I picked up some super cute fabric scraps at the craft store. I wasn't sure what I would do with them but they were too cute to pass up. Well I finally pulled out the fabric and decided to use some of it to make some flowers. I did a little searching and found a great pattern on Wise Craft. It was easy to follow and I loved that she provided a template for the flowers. If you would like to make some cute flowers for yourself grab some fabric scraps and print out the template.
You will need to cut out 4 small flowers and 2 large flowers. You will take the small flowers, fold them in half and then layer them like you see above. Place the layered small flowers on the two large flowers.

Then get out your needle and thread and put a couple of stitches in the flowers to hold them in place. Don't cut the thread yet. Find an adorable button for the center and sew it in place.

Once your button is sewn in place your flower is ready to use. You can put on a pin and use it on a cute dress, or you can put it on an alligator clip and use it in your hair. I made these for my niece and plan to use them on a couple of different projects. The pink one is going on a hair clip and the plaid one is going on a belt I made her. The bottom green and blue one is going to go on the the large wooden letter than I made for her. If you can't tell I have been working on some fun Christmas presents for her. I promise I will post details about them soon!

Flower Hair Clips

2010-01-09T19:23:00.000+09:00

Don't you just love these flower hairclips that I made for my niece? Well you are in luck cause the post is all about how to make them!

You will need:
some fake silk flowers
clear thread
glue gun and glue
alligator clip
center piece (this can be anything from a button to a jewel to a vintage piece of jewelry)
fake leaves

The first things you are going to do is pull the flower apart and discard the middle piece. Some people leave them in but I have found that they flake and fall out so it is best to get rid of them before you even start.

Now that your flower is in pieces you have a choice to make on how you will put it back together. This depends on both your centerpiece and the age of the girl who will be wearing it. If you have a button for the center it is best to sew it on. If you are giving this to a young child and you want it to be secure it is best to sew it. Normally I just use my glue gun (my daughter is older) but I decided to use a vintage button on this flower. When my grandmother passed away I ended up with a bunch of broken and mismatched pieces of costume jewelry. I wanted to make this flower special for my niece so I decided to use one of my grandmother's buttons.

Ok once you have your flower and centerpiece secured you will glue on the alligator clip. I like to use the silk leaves on the back of the flower as well. It makes it look nicer and it keeps the clip from sticking together.

Once everything cools you have you beautiful flower clip to wear or give away. I am currently working on some to give to all the girls in my daughter's class - I hope they love them!