May 6, 2011

A Mother's Day Gifty Idea

Well Mother's Day is upon us! I suppose this post would have been more helpful if I'd written it a week or so ago but there is MORE than enough time to get this done.

That's the beauty of it.

And it cost me $10 for the frame and about $1 for the pictures. Not bad! The photos were actually taken for Father's Day but obviously you could do this for just about anything that you can group into 3 pictures.



So one day when I had no idea what to do for the girls' dad for Father's Day (we're divorced), I took them down to Joanns (or any place with foam/wooden letters).

1. Find letters to spell out MOM, DAD, or even words like the pics below!
2. Take lovely children to the floral department in same store
3. Place child in front of pretty flowers and crop in REALLY TIGHT LOL
4. Leave letters there, cause really, what am I gonna do with purple sparkly letters that spell out DAD?
5. Take camera to Target/Walmart or anywhere with frames and photo department.
6. While photos are processing (Walmart took only 10 minutes to process from my SD card), go look for a frame with 3 4x6 slots.
7. Pick up photos, pay and YOU ARE DONE!

This is a set of photos I did for my mom for her birthday last year too. See the idea is totally versitile! You can do just about anything that can be grouped into 3rds ... and can be held by tiny hands ... the LOVE was a little tough ;)

Both recipients LOVED their presents! So if you're looking for a relatively inexpensive gift that you can make in less than an hour ... YOU ARE SET :)

If you end up using this idea, let me know!! I would love to see what you do with it!!

Linking up to the Mother's Day Linky Party at Somewhat Simple, Weekend Wrap up on Tatertots & Jello, and Weekend Bloggy Reading

May 5, 2011

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!

May 4, 2011

What I Wore Wednesday - #1!

My first WIWW YAY!!!

I've been stalking checking out The Pleated Poppy's What I Wore Wednesday's linky party for a few weeks now and it's really inspired me to get out of my clothing rut which mostly consisted of gym clothes, and put some real effort into how I dress. To get DRESSED dressed, everyday.

Yes. I DO need tutorials on how to get dressed every day ;)

And you know what ... I actually feel SO much better! I LOVE getting dressed now :) I've doing a lot of thrift store shopping and clearance shopping and I think I've come up with some pretty cute outfits!

Friday: Took my girls to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom -

(Disclaimer - I didn't get a great picture since we got up super early and got back SUPER late)
Cardigan sweater - H&M ($10!!!) LOVE
Blue tank - Ross ($5.99!)
Straight Leg Jeans - Target ($7.50!!!)

Saturday: Running errands with the fam, making stuff for my baby shower gifts (post to follow this week I hope!) and stuff round the house -

Dress - Ross (clearance $9.99)
Tank - Kmart
Super CUTE yellow wedges - Payless (clearance last year $5!!!!) LOVE

I'm not sure what I think about this dress. It's kind of long, and I kind of think it makes me look poofy lol Not sure bout it yet ...

But seriously ... I LOVE these shoes :) $5 on clearance at Payless last year ... SERIOUSLY. LOVE.

Sunday: BABY SHOWER!!!
Black shirt - Forever21 (like $4 ... OMG I love this shirt)
Skirt - HELLA years ago and I have no idea where ... I haven't worn it in 7 years but it FINALLY fits again :)
White peep toe wedges - Payless - LOVE these
White rosette bracelet - ME!

& hey look! it's my face!! lol I'm still working out the kinks on the whole full body self portrait thing ... now chest up self port ... I got that DOWN lol

I made it Sunday morning as I was getting ready for the shower. I just didn't have anything that was quite right so I made something :) It was so simple and SOOO easy to make! I'll post about it later this week ;)

Monday: Gym and stuff around the house and lunch with the hubs cause the kids went back to school :D

White asymetrical short sleeved cardigan (?) - Ross
Orange tank - Kmart ($1.99 on clearance!!)
Denim shorts - got from a friend
Teal flip flops - Payless last year

Hey look! It's my face again! w00t! Oh and it's hard to see but the bracelets are teal and orange and look SO cute with this. I have NO idea where I got them and I'm sorry ...

LOVE how the the front hangs, looks SOOO cute!

Tuesday: Gym, running errands, and the park with a friend :)

White embellished tank - Old Navy (clearance $4.99!!!)
Green cargo capris - from a friend
White flip flops - Payless (last year)

I LOVE the beading on this tank. I have a thing for ribbed tanks right now ... IF they're embellished. They just fit so well and I think this is just ADORABLE! Very springy :) And it was $5! LOVE!

So ... there you have it! My first WIWW post! I'm getting a new camera tomorrow so hopefully next weeks pics will be even better!

Linking up to The Pleated Poppy

Have a lovely Hump Day ;) and a great rest of the week!

January 10, 2011

Old T-Shirts = Free Winter Decor = Me Happy :)

It's funny how sometimes the mood to craft just STRIKES YOU and sometimes it doesn't.

I have left this house in DISARRAY since I took down the Christmas decorations because I've just been at a loss as to what to do. I've had no real motivation to sit down and figure it out since I was still (and AM still) working on Christmas gifts!

Another issue is my husbands opinionated odd and un-husband-like obsession interest in how our home is decorated. Now I'm all for him having an interest in how things go around here, but in more of a "Hey that looks great!" kind of way instead of a "Well ya know ... I really think we should do THIS" or a "You made that out of WHAT?" kind of way. lol

I take it stride.

And I decorate when he's working out of town.

And has no choice but to accept it when he gets back cause he's too tired to fight :)

Enter this weekend. I saw the CUTEST tutorial by Craftaholics Anonymous (LOVE the name!) on FB because Tatertots and Jello has just the CUTEST posts and the spam my wall CONSTANTLY with all the CUTENESS and I was powerless against it. It's for a super cute Valentine's Decoration but I adapted it to my current color scheme/winter theme. I keep seeing the poms poms and they looks SO cute and you make them out of OLD T-SHIRTS! How AWESOME is that?! I LOVE repurposing!

I decided to do a wintery theme around the downstairs partially because I LOVE these colors together, they flow nicely into my beachy theme that follows, I have tons of snowy photos to put up, and it was the most doable and least off the wall suggestion by the hubs.

I'm ALL about cooperation.

So while he was gone away at work this weekend, and unable to ask me 50eleven times what exactly it was supposed to be or why I wanted to hang cat toys in our house, I made 3! AND I covered a wreath form!

I think it came together LOVELY!  For the wreath, all I did was cut up a brown t-shirt into 1.5"x6.5" strips and tied them in double knots ... SUPER EASY!

To be honest I wasn't loving the pom at first. I just didn't know what to do with it or where to put it. I made the white one first and just hung it from a nail all by itself. I knew it needed something but I needed to walk past it and contemplate it for a few hours first.

Eventually I decided it definitely needed to be a set of 3 in varied colors that went with the decor and it needed a wreath to hang from. I'm still thinking it needs something INSIDE the wreath but it will take a few more hours of walking past it to come up with something I'm sure.

I'm actually really loving the way the whole scheme is coming together in the house and if more than just this table was clean, I would take pictures and show you lol. Maybe tomorrow ;-)

Now there are some things I did a little differently than the tutorial and there are some additional tips you might find helpful:
  • READ THE WHOLE TUTORIAL FIRST.
  • Read it again. But for real this time.
  • She has WAY better directions than I could write!
  • Keep it close so you can reference it during the procedure.
  • I used 2 thin material shirts and a thick (my hubs) and the thick material came out more to my liking. It's the white one.
  • I cut my material about 3/4" wide.
  • When I cut the shirt off at the arm pits, I cut down one side but kept it folded when I cut the strips. That way the strips were longer and required less breaks.
  • I pulled too tight when I did the dark blue one and I didn't like the way the thin material reacted to that. When you cut it and it springs back, it made the ball smaller than I wanted.
  • With the light blue one (same material) I didn't pull at all and I like that size better.
  • When you are winding around and layering, if your material gets twisted or folds over at the top, it tends to stay that way after you cut it, making a C shape. I liked that look! I would have done them all that way if I would have noticed that sooner.
  • Read the directions about starting a new strip carefully. I didn't read them right and had a LOT of little pieces fall off when I cut it.
  • If your scissors suck, get your advil ready. When you're done, you will have early stage carpel tunnel.
  • I didn't do the "hair cut" part but wished I would have. After I fluffed it it was uneven ALL over and looked like the time my oldest cut her hair ... when she was 3.
  • Thankfully, trimming the ball to evenness was much easier than my 3 year old's hair.
That's it! If anyone else makes one I would LOOOOVE to see them! And if you have any other tips to share, PLEASE DO! I will probably be making more!

Happy Monday and get to crafting!!!

January 9, 2011

It's a New Year Filled with TONS Fresh Startness!

OH MY WORD.

The holidays were crazy! It seemed like I was rushing so much that I missed them! I feel bad to say this, but I'm kind of glad to be getting back into a normal routine.

Well THIS family's normal anyway.

I don't do resolutions. I think I have a fear that if I set a goal I won't meet it so I don't set myself up for it. I know it's crazy, it's something I need to work on. Next week.

I might also need to work on my tendency to procrastinate.

And irrational fear of touching raw chicken.

Again ... NEXT week.

But THIS week my bestie and I decided that this is the year of "Not just thinking ahead, but DOING ahead". And in keeping with that spirit I'd also like to be more proactive and take control of things with the household.

I don't want the fact that I remember to pick up the kids at school every day to be the only thing I can say that shows I have it together. Especially since I have an alarm on my phone for that. And I'd be lying if I said that there weren't times it was the only reason I DID remember.

I set the bar high.

But I need more. I LOVE me some routines. I love structure, thrive on it. I can see that my kids do too when we have routines and schedules that aren't TOO rigid, just guidelines. So in that spirit I'm going to share a few links that are TOTALLY inspiring me right now!

Schedules/Routines -

Amy @ New Nostalgia's Morning Routine, Afternoon Routine, and Evening Routine -

I just love her blog. She's currently dealing with cancer but her spirit and her faith is just amazing. She's just inspirational in many ways :)

I LOVE her routines! I love the check lists and the attitude behind it all. She says this in the first post:

"I had to break the "reminder" habit, where I go around asking, did you do your chart? did you brush your teeth? etc. All that was doing was confusing my girls. If mom is going to ask or remind them about their responsibilities, (putting the monkeys back on me), then why would they ever step up to the plate and think or do for themselves??"

It's SO important to think about what we're teaching out kids. We're teaching them something just about every single second and no matter how much that stresses me out to think about, I need to be doing more with these teachable moments, like morning afternoon and evening LOL

Here's another post I found that has more ideas for kids routine/chore charts and I'm ALL FOR CHORES!

Organizing -

I love this post on How Does She? where a guest blogger, Julie, talks about the necessity of a Household Planner. I TOTALLY AGREE AND I'M DOING THIS. I might change up the sections but the over all ideas she talks about make my OCD do cartwheels :)

She has another post that talks about taking the WORK out of housework. It talks about changing your attitude and having more gratitude, I love it. It's such a GREAT way to think about what you have and appreciate it!

This post from Organized Home has more details on a Household Binder and FREE PRINTABLES = w00t!

I LOVE this super cute Birthday Organizer and it too has FREE PRINTABLES :D Last year I took a list of EVERY birthday for the YEAR to the store and bought cards for them ALL. I even got some for Mother's Day/Father's Day etc! I was so far ahead of the game it was AWESOME! Taking something as cute as THIS would make it even better!

This is another smaller version of a Birthday Organizer - perfectly purse size :)

I didn't always remember to give them out ... but now I have them for next year! :D lol Hopefully the binder with help with the remembering part ;-)

I think that's quite a bit to get started on, don't you?! If you have any awesome organizational tips I would LOVE to hear them! Good luck and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!