My Favorite Posts of 2011

So the holidays came and went and I didn't post a THING.

I really meant to! I got busy with holiday events, making decorations and gifts, and just trying to enjoy being with my people, being present. That's one of my goals for the upcoming year, but that's another post.

So I started looking around on here and seeing what I have and what I haven't posted yet, and I thought it would be fun to post a recap of my favorite projects and look back on what all I've done.

Last January I posted a tutorial on a cute wreath made out of old T-Shirts! I love this wreath and can't wait to show you how I changed it up to make it part of my Valentine's decor! Check back soon for that post!

Back in May, I posted my most popular (AND most pinned!) tutorial is my Rosette Bracelet :) I STILL love these, love wearing them, and making them for gifts!

This was a quick little post on a sweet, cheap and easy photo gift idea! It's great for Mother's Day, Father's Day, Grandparents, birthdays, it's great!

I also posted the CUTEST little tutu and painted pearl shirt outfit (with tutorials). I just LOVE this for little girl gifts :)

This was a quick little post about an adorable outfit I found on clearance and added some FLAIR to. SO cute! Still want to do this to a few things of mine!

In this post, I prettyfied some dishtowels for a housewarming gift for some friends.

One of my PERSONAL favorites :) A tutorial on my jewelry organizer! I still use it and I LOVE it!

Then in June, I did a 6 part series of posts about redecorating my teenage daughters bedroom:
Part 1: Prettifying a Lamp Shade
Part 2: Easy Throw Pillow Makeover
Part 3: Easy Inexpensive Curtains
Part 4: Freezer Paper Stenciled Pillow & Mod Podged Lamp
Part 5: Painting Furniture

In July, I posted about my daughters 6th birthday party, a Tiki Tiki Pool Party including a tutorial on how I made the banner!

I also posted about a white board weekly calendar I made for myself. I can't tell you how much I rely on this thing that cost me absolutely nothing to make :)

Then I took a break for the summer ;) But in October I came back and posted about the AWESOME tutu costumes I made for my girls in 2010, complete with a tutu-orial :)
Part 1: A Darling Devil
Part 2: Witchy Woman
Part 3: Zebra's ROCK

And my last post was about my super awesome Halloween Wreath :)

I haven't posted as much as I would've like to, not even HALF of the projects I've done, so I'm hoping to make more time in the day to post more regularly in the new year. Here's hopin ... HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

I Can See My Bathroom Counter Again!

This week I FINALLY attacked my jewelry organization problem. I've been meaning to do this for awhile but I actually DID it this week. I think it's because the Hubs started talking about wanting to "take out the bathroom cabinets and just put in a pedestal sink" because "it just creates clutter"

I have NO idea what he could be talking about.

We agreed that this was crazy talk and we needed the cabinets/counter top, but just in case he had an hour to himself in the house alone and the necklace pile was too much for him to bear, I got to work on a solution.

Supplies:

• 4 Cork Tiles - Walmart/Target $5-$7 (I like this option because you can use as many as you need and put them where ever you want, totally customizable)
• Fabric - at least 28" x 28", mine was just a remnant I picked up at Joanns for $2 :)
• Push Pins - Dollar Tree $1
• Rockstar - Optional but helpful
• Hot Glue Gun/Glue

1. These cork tiles are 12x12 so I cut my fabric at 14x14.

2. Hot glue onto cork and press fabric down onto hot glue.

3. Do all 4 sides.

4. Nail them to the wall, one in each corner.

5. Put up as many as you want/need.

6. Then I separated my stuff into 3 categories - bracelets, necklaces, and earrings/clips.

7. Use push pins to hang jewelry on the cork :) and you're DONE BABY!

Look how NICE and ORGANIZED that looks!!

I even found a spot to pin my flip flop flower clips from dollar tree ;)


I even found stuff I had forgotten I had! I am LOVING it! And it took like NO time to make it and was pretty cheap too :) Cheap & Easy are 2 of my favorite words ;)

Linking up to these AWESOME parties, check em out!

Embellishing a Gift

Just a quick post today since I've got TWO birthday parties this weekend!

ADORABLE right?!

A few weeks ago I was going to a birthday party for a 2 year old little girl and I was at a LOSS as to what to get her (yes, I am aware I've had THREE 2 year old girls).

I went with my usual standby for little girls ... DRESSES! I LOVE little girly clothes :) So I found the PRETTIEST little smocked A-Line dress at Target and figured it would make a lovely gift because she could probably still wear it next year as is the beauty of these dresses, amIright?!

Well, then as I passed by the clearance section I found a little jacket that matched the color of the dress PERFECTLY!

AND IT WAS $2!!!!

So basically to make this you follow my Rosette Tutorial with a few little changes:

1. Make the rosette. The fabric I used for these was from a pair of khaki pants my hubs was throwing away (GASP!) I rescued the precious material and cut a few strips out of the leg! I cute one strip of leg about 1.5" wide full circle around the leg to make the big one. I cut another one same size and cut it in half to make the small ones :)

I have so much material left from that one pair of pants I could create an army of rosettes ... should the need arise.

2. Hot glue the rosettes onto a piece of felt in the shape you want them on the project.

3. Take thread in the color of the fabric and make a horrifically ugly attempt at hand sewing the rosettes to the project. I wish I had a picture ... it was a scene. It was also late and I was in a hurry lol

4. After that I decided to girly it up even more and add some pretty pearls :) I hand stitched them on and tied them up real good.

DONE :D

Tell me that ain't the cutest!!! And you could do this to just about ANYTHING to make it cuter! I got a cute tank on clearance yesterday and it is SO getting the rosette treatment :)

She didn't look terribly impressed, but she's 2 so I didn't take offense ;)

Well ... she MAY have seen the hand sewing job ... in which case, I can hardly blame her.

Linking up to these AWESOME weekend linky parties! Come check em out!
Weekend Wrap Up Party @ Tatertots and Jello
Weekend Bloggy Reading @ Serenity Now
Sew Darn Crafty @ Sew Many Ways

Rosette Bracelet Tutorial!

So I posted my What I Wore Wednesday post yesterday and showed off this awesome (ifIdosaysomyself:) Rosette Bracelet I made to wear to a baby shower.

And the crowd went WILD ... all 7 of you! lol ;) So I worked real hard today to get a tutorial up for ya'll! I didn't take any pictures when I made the white one, so I took this opportunity to make myself a yellow one!

Supplies:
Fabric - I love remnants and scraps for this
Felt - preferably in a color matching the fabric if at all possible, if not, no big
Ribbon - 7/8" in a color matching the fabric if you can, if not, use a coordinating color and I've used as small as 5/8" but I prefer 7/8"
Scissors & Hot Glue Gun

Now this is a typical remnant you might find at your local fabric store and was 29" by 44/45".

1. Folded it in half, and half again to cut. I love this project because you don't have to iron, measure in any real way, or even cut straight! lol

2. So you cut a strip and it should be 44"x1.5".

3. Cut this in half to create your 22"x 1.5" strip, this size turned out rosettes perfect sized to fit 5 to a bracelet.

4. Now take one end and fold it in half and then half again.

5. Then take a hold of the end and twist the rest and wrap it around the end.

6. Keep doing that until you run out of fabric :) Basically, you can't mess this up!

Believe me, I've tried lol

You just keep twisting and there's no rhyme or reason to it, just twist until you get the shape and size you want.

And then you have a rosette :) You can do this with fabric, ribbon (grosgrain holds better than satin), paper, crepe paper, even tulle! They all look awesome and can be used in TONS of ways :)

7. Now, take your hot glue gun and just put glue all over the back of the rosette.

8. Stick it down onto a piece of felt and push down for a few seconds.

9. Once you have all 5 down, cut them each out.

10. Then cut around the rosette as close to the glue as you can. You don't want to see the felt after you glue it down.

11. Next, find the center of your ribbon. My ribbon measured 30" but I could have gone with more, just depends on how much you like hanging from the bow.

12. Apply hot glue only to the area that will touch the ribbon, as you can see the ribbon is smaller than the rosette. You don't want to glue your bracelet to the mat ;)

13. To avoid a big gap between roses when you wear it, push the rosettes together when you apply the next ones.

It should look something like this ... ish ...

Once you've attached them, it should look something like this.

14. Now at this point when I put it on, it still had a little gaping between the roses. I wasn't loving that. So I tied the ribbon together and put a few dots of hot glue between each rose and pushed them together so you couldn't see it.

Then I LOVED it :) It's a lot stiffer now, really holds it's shape. I think I might go back and do this to the white one!

The back :)

Oh it just looks so PRETTY! I LOOOOVE it!


And ya know what ... it took me maybe a half an hour? And THAT included stopping every 2.5 minutes to take a picture ;)

So now you have the basic rosette tutorial as well as my take on the rosette bracelet :) Go forth and CREATE! and come back and show me what you made!! :D

Linking up to What I Whipped Up Wednesdays at Sugar and Dots, Strut Your Stuff on Somewhat Simple and the Weekend Wrap up on Tatertots and Jello!