St. Patty's Day Centerpiece Tutorial (Kid-Friendly!)

This is one of the cheapest and easiest projects I've ever done.  I am a leader for my daughter's Frontier Girls troop--We have six girls ages 4-6.  I did this project with all the girls on Monday afternoon and it went fabulously.  I was a little worried about Mod Podging with six wee ones, but they did a fantastic job, which emphasized to me how simple this project really is.

Want to know the best part?  Each centerpiece costs under $2!  All of the supplies (except for the Mod Podge) were purchased at our local Dollar Tree.

SUPPLIES

-Small square candle holder

-Scented tea candle

-Green decorative glass

-St. Patrick's Day Napkins

-Mod Podge  (Not pictured)

-Foam brushes (Not pictured, but available at the Dollar Store)

-Scissors (Not pictured)

Unfold a napkin.  Use your scissors to cut out two of the green squares with clovers inside.

Mod Podge a clover square to two opposite sides of the candle holder.

Fill the candle holder with the green class about 2/3 full.  Place the tea candle into the center of the candle holder.  (You can kind of twist it down into the green glass a little bit.)

Enjoy!

I'm currently working on a Home/Life Organization Binder.  It's nearing completion, so I hope to have photos up soon.

Also coming soon... A Spring Wreath! 

Valentine's Day Tic Tac Toe

I have to say that I'm really quite pleased with how this turned out.  It was inspired by my daughter's love for Tic Tac Toe.  Actually, it was mostly her idea.  I just took care of the details.  This is a fantastic craft for kids, as my daughter (5 years old) was able to share in the work and do a lot by herself.

This was so easy to make.  I simply cut a heart template out of construction paper, then used it to cut 10 red hearts and 10 white hearts.  (Even though there are only 9 hearts on the board at a time, you want to be sure that each color has enough to win!)  I put two hearts together, used a hot glue gun to glue almost all the way around the inside edge, filled the hearts (through the unglued opening) with pinto beans (my daughter did all of the filling), then used the glue gun to seal the hearts.  Voila!

Next I cut a big heart out of pink fleece.  I chose fleece because it doesn't fray and I wanted to create a no-sew project.  Before you cut the heart, lay your bean bag hearts on top of the fabric to ensure that your game board heart will be big enough.  I cut four pieces of ribbon, pinned them to the heart in the shape of a Tic Tac Toe grid, then used the hot glue gun to glue them in place.  That's it!

The best part?  The game board ties up around the bean bags, creating its own storage space.  What more could you ask for?

Easiest Fall Monogram Wreath Tutorial

Fall is absolutely, without a doubt, my favorite season.  On September 1st, I pulled out all of my fall decorations and spent the morning transforming my home.  (That was also the day my son started school, and I had to keep busy to keep from crying the entire day!)  Today the weather has cooled enough to make it feel like fall--What perfect timing, as I made a new fall wreath for our front door last night!  

SUPPLIES
Styrofoam wreath form (mine was 10")
Fall Ribbon--Enough to wrap the entire wreath and cover the door hanger
1 Strand/Garland of fall leaves (On sale now at JoAnn's!)
Floral Pins (Sewing pins would work fine, too.)
Door/Wreath Hanger

Wrap the fall-themed ribbon around the entire wreath, covering it completely.  I used floral pins to secure the ribbon, as I like to be able to change my wreaths around, but you could use a glue gun, instead.

Create a loop at the top of your wreath with one end of your leaf garland.  Secure it with a pin.

Continuing from where you started the garland with the loop, wrap the garland in and out of the wreath, until you've used the entire length.  (Sorry if this isn't too clear; just wrap it around, the same way you did the ribbon.)  Secure the end with another pin.  

You can see the pin that I used to secure the end of the ribbon in the first step.  Don't worry about those pins because you can arrange the leaves to cover anything that shows.

Wrap your door hanger in ribbon, too, if you like.  I used double sided tape to secure the ribbon.

This is what I first hung on my door.  I really liked it, but felt like it needed something else.  So I scrounged around my craft room and found a letter "D" that I had mod podged a few months ago, but never did anything with.  Luckily it fit perfectly inside my wreath, and matched!

Here's the final product!  I love the monogram in the middle; I feel like it really makes the wreath.  How easy was that?!

HAPPY FALL!

I'm linking up to:

PB Cord Cover Knock-Off Tutorial

While drooling over browsing the Pottery Barn catalog, I came across this:

It's a burlap cover for the hanging cord on a chandelier.  Immediately I thought of the chandelier that we have hanging in our dining room, and of course imagined it in red.  Then I went to work.  Here's my version:

It was actually fairly simple to make, once I figured out how I wanted to make it.  I wasn't sure if I should actually gather the fabric, or just make it long enough that it would scrunch itself on the cord.  I finally decided on gathering, which I think was the right choice.  Enough talking--Here's the tutorial.

Supplies

Fabric--I used 100% cotton.  You'll need (Length x1.75) + (Circumference of the cord +1").

Fusible Interfacing

Thread (Match your fabric)

Sewing Machine

Snaps

Step 1

Cut your fabric to the dimensions described above.  The x1.75 is for gathering and seam allowance (.5"), and the +1" is for the .5" seam allowance.  I am NOT a sewer, so please don't judge me too harshly on my technique/vocabulary here.  Please.

Step 2

Cut your fusible interfacing to 1" less than the length and 1" less than the width of your fabric.  (One inch off of one side and one inch off of the top.)

Step 3

According to the directions on the package, iron the fusible interfacing to the wrong side of your fabric.  The interfacing gives some strength to the fabric, which helps it stand up, instead of slinking down the cord.  

Step 4

Hem the top and bottom, i.e. the width, of the fabric.  I didn't do anything fancy for my hem.  I simply folded it down to the fusible interfacing (.5"), pinned it, then sewed.

Step 5

Pin the hem (same method as Step 4) on both of the remaining sides (lengths).  Then fold your fabric in half lengthwise.  You'll end up with a long rectangle.  (My fabric was a little bit see-through, which is why I used two layers.)  Now you're going to re-pin the hems together.  So, keeping the hems folded in, pin the fabric together.

Step 6

Using a basting stitch, sew the two sides together (along the hem line).  Gather the fabric until it is the actual length of your chandelier cord.  Sew over the basting stitches using a short stitch length.  Backstitch at the beginning and end.  (This will hold your gathers.)

Step 7

Use a basting stitch to sew .5" in from the folded edge, the entire length of the fabric.  (Sew a parallel line to the one in Step 6, but on the folded edge, instead of the open edge).  Gather the fabric until it is also the actual length of the cord.  Sew over the basting stitches using a short stitch length.  Backstitch at the beginning and end.

Step 8

Sew on your snaps, being careful that they match up on each side.  Place your snaps so that only one seam shows--One snap goes directly under the gathers (on the wrong side of the fabric), while the other snap goes on the right side of the fabric, next to the gathers.  Sorry, I don't have a picture of this.  I'll get one up as soon as I can.

Now you can climb up on a chair and snap that sucker on!  Enjoy!

I'm linking up to:

Ribbon and Brad Flower Headband Tutorial

I only had time to get the headband done tonight, but I'll try to get the bracelet finished soon.  Here you go!

Supplies
6" Ribbon
1 Large Brad
1 Headband
Needle and Thread (matched to the color of the ribbon)
Glue Gun

Cut a piece of ribbon to 6"

Fold over one end of ribbon and insert the needle through both layers.  (This creates a clean end.)

Use a running stitch to sew along one side of the ribbon from one end to the other.

When you reach the other end of the ribbon, fold it over just like you did on the first end.  Place your last stitch through both layers of ribbon.

Gather the ribbon by pulling on one end of thread, while holding the other.  

Once your ribbon is gathered into a circle, tie off your thread with a knot.

Place your brad through the center of your ribbon circle.

Open the brad across the back of the ribbon circle.

Adhere the ribbon and brad to a headband using a glue gun.  I glued the brad to the headband because I didn't want it to poke my daughter in the head or catch her hair.

DONE!

Guest Project: Karen's Explosion Album

I am so excited to be featuring my friend Karen's project today.  Karen is an extremely talented Stampin' Up demonstrator.  Karen hosts a monthly scrapbooking class, as well as a monthly technique class for card-making.  Today, though, Karen is going to be showing us how to make a Photo Explosion Album. This album is simple to make, but looks really nice and holds a good number of pictures.  I'm so excited, so let's get started!

Supplies

2 4 1/2" x 4 1/2" pieces of chipboard (or cardboard)

2 6" x 6" pieces of decorative scrapbook paper or card stock (for the front and back covers)

3 10" x 10" sheets of cardstock (this will make the actual album)

1 18" length of ribbon

Metal Buckle

Cardstock cut to the same size and shape as the buckle

2 Brads

2 Velcro Dots

Glue Gun

Double Sided Tape

Cardstock, stamps, and embellishments for the cover and interior

**Supplies in italics are for a buckle embellishment on the cover.  You can also close the album using only ribbon.

The Cover

Place double sided tape around the edges of a piece of chipboard.  

Center the chipboard, tape side UP, on the wrong side of your cover.

Fold in the corners first, and then use a bone folder to fold in the sides between the corners.

This is how it should look when you're done.

Repeat for the back cover.

The Inside Pages

Fold the 10" x 10" cardstock in half.  

Open, and fold in half again the other direction.  Open.  (It should look like the photo below.)

Fold along one diagonal.  Open.  

Turn your cardstock over, and push the center of the cardstock down.

You now have four squares on your cardstock.  Two squares have a diagonal fold and two do not.  Fold the diagonal squares down, one side at a time, until you have a square.

Repeat on each sheet of 10" x 10" cardstock (three total).

Assemble the Album

Place one sheet so that the diagonals point up, the next sheet with the diagonals pointing down, and the third sheet with diagonals pointing up.

Take the center sheet and overlap each non-diagonal square with a non-diagonal square on the other sheet.  Use double sided tape to adhere them together.

Lay your back cover face down.  Tape your ribbon to the back of the right (as in right and left) side of your cover so that it will wrap across the front like this:

Lay your back cover face down.  Tape the remaining non-diagonal square of the third page to the wrong side of the back cover.

Tape the non-diagonal square of the first page to the wrong side of the front cover, checking that your cover is facing the proper direction.

To create the buckle-look on the front cover: Place brads through the holes on the buckle.  Use a glue gun to seal the back of the brad, then trim the brad to fit.

Wrap the ribbon around the album, leaving some extra slack (album with be thicker once filled with photos), to determine where the buckle will be placed.

Place the buckle in its correct position on the ribbon.  With the ribbon in the middle, use a glue gun to glue the buckle to its matching cardstock.

This step should be done AFTER you have filled the album with photos.  (You have to know how big the album will be to determine where the velcro should be placed.)

Affix a velcro dot to the front of the album, in the location that the buckle will sit.  Affix another glue dot to the back of the buckle.  This is how you'll latch your album closed.

Fantastic--Your album is assembled!

This is the fun part.  Add pictures, embellishments, and journaling to both the front and back side of the album.
You can use the following technique to trim and fit your photos:
Cut a 5" x 5" square, then fold it along the diagonal.  Cut into two triangles.  Use the triangles as a guide for determining where to cut photos.

Here are some finished photos of Karen's album:

Karen, thank you so much for sharing this amazing project!  I truly appreciate all of the time that you put into making it so wonderful.

If you are interested in learning more about Stampin' Up or would like to purchase supplies to make this project, you can contact Karen here.