~Valentines scrabble sign~

It seems like I always end

up giving everything I make away.

After finishing the big project I was working on yesterday,

toddler bedding for a friend, I decided I was

going to make something for myself.

It was a total spur of the moment project

and the finished product is my new favorite

Valentines decoration.

I got the idea from my neighbor.

I was actually going to spray paint the frame a 

different color but I dropped it and it cracked :(

See it?

It's a cheap frame from the dollar store.

I put the ribbon around all the sides to hold it 

together where it had cracked. Funny how 

you can find new ways to do things by having

to improvise and then end up loving it 

more than what you had in mind originally. 

It's not very cute from the back:

But who's gonna see the back right?

I like the little touch of pretty that the pearl buttons add.

I hot glued scrabble letters onto a piece

of scrapbook paper for the "filling" .

This was a 20 minute project.

No kidding.

What did we ever do without glue guns? 

Linking up with Grosgrain Fabulous
and 
Positively Splendid

~handmade valentines cards~

I've told you before how much I enjoy making 

handmade Valentines each year.

I send them to Grandparents and siblings as well 

as my own sweetheart and kids.

This was the Valentine I made a couple years ago:

 The inside message was something like,

"We've got our eyes on you Valentine!" 

It was so easy to do.

I got the picture I wanted to use,

cut out everything besides us (obviously),

stuck that on a blank card decorated with paper,

glued the googly eyes over our real eyes

and

wrote the message inside the card. 

Not all Valentines cards have to be sappy.

Which leads me to my next question....

DO YOU LIKE 

FUNNY AND LIGHT HEARTED CARDS

OR 

ROMANTIC AND SERIOUS CARDS

FROM YOUR SWEETHEART?

~hair pretties~

 My little guy had a birthday party for one of his friends

who is a girl but "not a girlfriend" (as he says).

Along with a stack of leg warmers,

I made her a couple hair pretties.

My little lady is still in the stage where she pulls

EVERYTHING out of her hair when I attempt 

to style it. Because of this, I haven't really

got into making hair pretties yet. 

My Mom used to make them for us when I was a kid

and I remember being so proud of the fact that 

I had the cutest hair pretties in the whole class.

My experience making hair accessories is moderate.

I went thru a phase in 9th grade where I made a bunch

of cute barrettes and clips for myself using oddball things.

Some of them were real cute.

Others....questionable.

Like the one I adorned with pills.

Yes...you read correctly. My Mom worked in a 

Dr's office and we had tons of drug samples so 

I thought they would be a cute colorful way to 

adorn this particular barrette. I wore it a few times

and actually got a lot of compliments on it but 

the first time my Mother informed me that I was

wearing hormone pills that she took for her 

menopause, was the day I quit wearing it.

Nowadays it would probably be considered drug contraband.

I've just dated myself haven't I? I went to school

back in the days when we didn't have school officers,

mandatory locker inspections, drug sniffing dogs and

rules and regulations for EVERYTHING.

I'm sure as my girl gets older I will make more

and get better at making them but until then,

this is where I'm at with it.

To say the little girl I made them for is a "girly girl" would be

a bit of an understatement. I sure do hope she likes them.

I can see how this could get addicting.

I had so much fun making these.

They were easy, inexpensive and quick.

 

"Pinspiration-kids stuff"

From food to crafts to game ideas....

you can find so many ideas for little kids on Pinterest.

It's one of my favorite things to search.

Here's a sampling of some of the great ideas

I've recently found on Pinterest.

(Click on any of the pics to be redirected to 

their link source and learn more about them.)

 I'm seriously considering making one of these for

 my guys art supplies. He currently has a 

little desk in his room that I keep threatening to get

rid of because most of the time it's just stacked with

his crap and cannot even be used as a desk. I'm wondering

if this would solve that problem.

 What a fun game for kids.

This would be a fun game for a birthday party.

And best of all....cheap!

 I made this fort kit for my little guy's birthday.

It's a big hit and it was another easy and inexpensive project.

I'm going to be making another one soon for

a friend's son.

 This blog has a ton of ideas for kids activities.

Check it out.

 Another fun activity for kids.

Spy training game.

 I love these little snack bags. 

I'm going to do this soon :)

Although my kids would prefer them to 

be filled with chocolate.

 What a cute sandwich.

I need to try this....it's almost too cute to eat.

 A snack station for kids in the fridge.

LOVE IT!

Back before I had kids when my nieces and nephews

would come stay with me I would make them 

sacks filled with snacks to last them throughout the day.

That way they didn't have to ask me when they 

wanted something. I haven't thought to do this 

for my kids....forgot all about it....until now.

 Now this is a creative way to eat marshmallows

and apple slices.

Maybe I could get him to eat peppers if

I presented them like this.

This would also be fun for a Halloween party.

 I've made a couple quiet books and I think this

little coloring tote is a good alternative to a quiet book.

It looks easy and it's adorable. It would also be a 

good birthday gift for kids.

If you haven't seen my quiet books you should check them 

out by clicking on my label "quiet book" on the sidebar.

 This is another cute gift idea for little kids.

I don't let my kids do sleepovers but I'm going to

make them each one for when we go out of town

to see relatives. It will make my little guy feel

very grown up to have his own travel kit. 

 Soft para-troopers. My little guy was just asking

me the other day for another para-trooper toy.

This is way better than those cheap little plastic ones.

Plus-I don't have to worry about my baby getting

the plastic parachute and choking on it.

 How genius is this?

Three pillows covered in fabric for the kids

to lay on. Another project I've got to do.

This means I have to clear a spot on the floor

amidst all the toys to actually have a place

to lay these pillows. Re-thinking this :)

A good deed punch card for kids.

Once it's filled they get a reward. 

I'm going to try this.

Hopefully  it will work because my little guy

has been a turd lately.

 What a cute way to have your kids footprints forever.

 Shaving cream paint for the bathtub.

What kid wouldn't love this?

I love how innovative this idea is. 

We have a dozen stray action figures I could do this with.

I've got more but I have to stop now.

I wasn't kidding when I said I could go on and on 

about my fun Pinterest finds :)

~leather and lace belt~

I love lace and I've been seeing it 

in people's fashion choices a lot lately it seems.

I got a big piece of thick lace a few weeks ago

with the intentions of adding it to a waistband

on a pair of pants of mine. 

Well, that didn't work out and I've been trying

to figure out how I could use it.

I saw this dress on Pinterest a few days ago

and knew immediately what I wanted to do with the lace:

Isn't this beautiful?

Seriously?!

Anyway, keep in mind this was just my inspiration.

Obviously I didn't make a dress like this.....YET :)

This is what I did:

I made a little lace belt to layer with other belts.

I know this shirt isn't the best with it and I didn't realize

 until I looked at the pictures tonight...yowza.

Next time I'm going to try it with a little shift dress.

Here's how I did it.

First off, buy enough lace to fit around your waist

with about 2 extra inches. Next you want to wrap the

lace around your waist where you'll be wearing it and

mark with pins the two meeting points on each end. 

Go ahead and fold the ends under about an inch.

 The pins represent the line I will be sewing my snaps on.

Now you want to take another piece of material that has

some body and stiffness to it. This is what you will be 

attaching the snaps to. I used some weird shiny black

material I've had for years. Cut a piece just big enough to

fit in between the two layers of the lace ends you 

just folded under. You'll want to use a piece

the same color as your lace so it doesn't stick out

like a sore thumb. 

 This is what it will look like:

Next you will be sewing the ends of your lace that you've

just turned under and placed the fabric strip into.

 Sew both ends under and it will look something like this:

Now the tedious part.....sewing on the snaps.

uggghh.

These were the kind I used.

 Make sure you have a "male" and a "female" part for

each snap. Determine where you want to place

them and sew them on. It was a little tricky

sewing a black snap onto a black piece of lace

with a black piece of thread....I poked myself a lot.

 Nice chipped nail polish eh?

So, once you've got them sewn on, it will look 

something like this. Remember, not both ends will

be turned under in the same direction. Since you want

them to meet and lay flat, one end will actually be 

turned up and the other end will be turned down.

Also, be sure to sew your snaps on the underside of

the piece that will laying on the top. On the other end,

you will sewing them on the top. Is this making sense?

Once you lay out the lace and start fitting it to you

I think you will see what I'm talking about.

I should have said that before now shouldn't I?

I learned this the hard way.

yeah...and I thought sewing the snaps was rough?

Try unpicking a black seam on a piece of black lace.

I can't believe I didn't destroy it.

I tried it with a couple different belts and 

it looked cute with all of them.

What a shame I didn't try a different shirt.

I am really loving the "leatha and lace" look.

Can't wait to try it with something else.

~valentines projects-done by moi~

I'm not doing a very good job the past

couple weeks of posting on this blog.

I have plenty to share it's just that

I can't seem to find enough hours in the day

to get to this little blog of mine. 

I've been working on some Valentine's projects.

You may recognize some of these ideas from 

my "pinspiration-Valentine's Day" post.

 Baby leg warmers for these adorable little chub legs.

If you want to make some of these use the 

leg warmer tutorial I posted a couple weeks ago.

 I saw this idea as a pillow and decided instead

to do it in a picture frame. It was sooo easy.

Just sew some string onto a piece of fabric

cut to the proper dimensions for your frame.

The hearts are attached at the point where

the button is sewn on. Put back in the

frame and you're done.

I also did this one:

This idea was also originally a pillow that I

chose to do in a frame instead.

To do this I just traced a heart onto my piece of

muslin and used a big quilting needle with my

ribbon threaded in it. Stitch around your heart

shape, being sure to leave enough ribbon at

the end to tie in a bow. I added the button

to give it a little more texture. 

These are both going to a friend for her birthday.

The other project...

this adorable red and silver bracelet.

My next Valentine's project will be 

the heart shaped cupcakes and our

Valentine's cards. 

Meanwhile, I am working on some toddler bedding

that I will hopefully be finishing up within the next

couple days for a friend. I hope the finished product

will turn out as cute as the one we've envisioned 

in our heads :) 

Linking up with:
kojo designs
and
Grosgrain