Card holder

Since this year we don't have a fireplace or a mantle I had no where to display our Christmas cards that we received. So I found this idea on Pinterest from another crafter and really liked it but I had to give it my own touch.

I used an oval wood plague and 1.25" wood letters from Walmart.  The sign I saw on Pinterest used the "Merry Mail" that shows in the top left corner.  I hated this part but for lack of something better I went with it.

I took a couple scraps of tissue paper and using Mod Podge I decoupaged it to the oval. And then trimmed around the edge. The pain of the butt was getting the polka dots lined up.






Completed trim job and a little bit of patch work.









Using my hubby's staple gun I attached the ribbon to hang it from. and then attached 4 ribbons at the bottom to hang the cards from. In the top of the picture you see some little mini clothes pins to use in attaching the cards to the ribbon. SN: these little clothes pins are horrible, I recommend finding something else.

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So as I said before I hated that "Merry Mail". The more I thought about spending this Christmas away from family & friends I was feeling really homesick. The line of "Making Spirits Bright" came to mind and I realized that was exactly what these cards did was make my spirits bright. So some metallic gold paint and Mod Podge I had my sign.

I choose four of my cards just to show the finished project.  And now that I see how easy this was I think I am going to make one for each of us to hang our birthday cards on every year.

May your spirits never dull,

Amy

Christmas Wreath

My husband has recently accused me of being addicted to making yarn wrapped crafts. What can I say? Its easy and fast, and with my attention span plus 2 kids under age 4, those are the crafts I need to do..  With being in a new place this year, and so far from home, I wanted to do a really nice wreath for the front door.  My idea took on several incarnations as I went along.

I started with a 12 inch extruded (smooth) styrofoam wreath and a really nice dark green yarn. I wanted to go slightly vintage on it. I made at least 2 layers of the yarn over the wreath form then added a really nice sheer gold ribbon.

I found these glass ornaments and gold swirl ribbon at Walmart. The ornaments have a very Nativity scene on them in the same colors as the ribbon. I thought it would look good to have the balls hanging at various heights. I used a simple slip knot to secure the balls to the ribbon.

I secured the sheer gold ribbon and the ribbon holding the balls using the hubby's staple gun and half inch staples.  I got a little staple happy on the back side with probably 10 staples to hold everything in place.

So I got in a hurry wrapping my letters and forgot to take pictures of my "j" and "o". But I bought some bright red yarn to match my ornaments and these little wood letters at Walmart. the small strips of yarn are to cover the tops & bottoms of the "y" and "j". I just couldn't figure out how to wrap the yarn and get it to stay.

I took several of the short strips draped them over and used masking tape to hold it in place. Then I was able to wrap the yarn to cover the tape.

Completed letters to attach to the wreath.









Completed wreath!!! Final step was some hot glue to attach the letters. And because there is only a small portion of the letters actually touch the wreath I was not shy about the amount of glue I used.

May you not come unraveled this holiday season!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year,

Amy

Apple Pie Cinnamon Roll

The first Pinterest recipe I have made. It turned out pretty good, could have used a little more flavor, so I will be trying this again. I'll even be trying different cinnamon rolls and pie filling. Now onto the real reason you are reading this.

Apple Pie Cinnamon Rolls

2 cans of refrigerated cinnamon rolls
2 cans apple pie pie filling

Take the cinnamon roll dough and press or roll until flattened. (I unrolled the rolls and flattened them length wise, it just seemed easier, but you can flatten however you want.)

Place half of flattened cinnamon roll dough in bottom of baking dish (I used a 9x13 glass dish).

Pour pie filling on top.

Now place other half of dough on top of pie filling.

Bake uncovered at temp according to cinnamon roll package until done. I then drizzled the cinnamon roll icing across the top.

Sugar & Spice,
Amy

How to print on a paper bag

Well I just thought I wasn't going to have time for anymore "projects" or another blog before moving.  But I decided a short break from packing would be the best time to post just one more.

I found a tutorial on Pinterest for printing on a paper bag. Since my son has his 1st birthday coming up I thought "How cool would this be for some custom treat bags?!"  At first the hubby just rolled his eyes and shook his head. Once he saw what I was attempting he jumped right in.

My computer has the 2007 version of Microsoft Office. I prefer using PowerPoint over Word simply because PowerPoint allows easier movement of images (in my opinion).   So go into your printer settings, and under CUSTOM set your paper size to 5.2" by 10.2 inches, save this as PAPER BAG.  Once I went back into the blank document I was using I set my paper size as 5.2 by 10.2 just so I had an accurate size to work with.  Using ClipArt and Google I picked out the images I wanted. Hubby helped with the layout A LOT. I swear the man has the patience of Job, which makes him so much better at detail work. 

Paper bag showing which way to load the bag.   Insert bottom flap face up first. As a side note (it didn't mention this on the original tutorial I found) make sure you rotate your images 180 degrees before printing, unless you want your imagines to come out on the bottom of the bag instead of the top.

 First side printed ( I did double sided printing mainly because I couldn't decide which images I wanted to use). The hubby did the work with the pictures and foot prints. I think it turned out so much better than what I had in my head. SN: to print double sided select just one page at a time and I also found it worked best to load one bag at a time into the printer. Time consuming yes, but I was suffering from paper jams and aggravation.

 To print on both sides, flip the bottom over so that the bag is still closed.

Insert as shown above. 

Completed treat bags. I thought they turned out fantastic. And yes I did print an extra to go in the scrapbook.









May your ink never run dry and your printer never jam,
Amy

Monogram Wreath

I love making things for people.  Sometimes its easier than buying things for them. So when it came down to making something for my older sister I had a perfect idea.... animal prints and lots of bling. I started out with the idea to wrap the wreath form in different animal print ribbons, beads, sequins. The ribbons ended up being a mistake for several reasons. Not only did they clash but it was just a pain in the rear trying to wrap them in a way that they covered the wreath and looked good. That took 2 attempts in making this wreath. Finally I settled on an idea. I ended up going with black lace, zebra print with a little dash of hot pink for some color, and some rhinestone bling.

I took a wooden letter form and painted it black (front, back & edges)

 Fake rhinestones to give it the "bling" look.

 So since the animal ribbons didn't work out I bought some cheap lace material  and cut to fit my Styrofoam form. The form is a white extruded form, its cheaper than the rougher Styrofoam forms. You can also wrap your form with a different color yarn/ribbon to be under the lace. I choose to leave it plain. If you are feeling froggy you could try painting the wreath form. Let me know how it turns out if you do.

 I placed the lace over the outside of the wreath and attempted to center it. I placed pins at intervals just to hold it in place. And then taking a needle & thread I sewed the lace together. I basically did what I've always heard called a "whip stitch". It's like doing a spiral around the fabric instead of stitching a straight seem.

 Once I got everything sewn I was able to VERY GENTLY rotate the lace. And except for the ugly seam at the top, I was happy.

 I bought these flowers to cover the ugly steam.  They are actually ones that you would use on a head band or hair bow. But they were a cheaper option to faux flowers.

Took a few tries to get a string that could hold the beads, wreath and "O". Finally we had to use para-cord for the beading and heavy duty upholstery thread for the "O". In between each bead I hot glues more of the rhinestones to act as spacers. Hubby made a hole through the Styrofoam to run the thread to hold the "O" in place.




And here is the finished product.  I sent my sister a picture earlier and she loves it. Its a little lopsided in the picture simply because its hung on a nail.  I'm sure it will be a little better on a wider hook.








Stay shiny!
Amy

CD/DVD book redo

As I have said before I have a 3 year old daughter and we are moving 1100 miles from where we live.  How do you entertain an incredibly imaginative toddler for 3 days of travel and not loose your mind or be driven to drink? (BTW the drinking is meant for comic relief, I don't drink alcohol)

We solved part of this problem sometime back when we bought her a portable DVD player and head phones (don't shoot me, I do check the volume when she is watching her movies to make sure its not to loud and this is a travel time only deal). I've also bought her 3 new movies plus a CD player and music/read along books to watch/listen to on the trip to our new home.

But I wanted to do something that we could do as a mommy/daughter craft together and let her personalize her travel disc carry books. She already had one small 24 disc book (that had been mine once upon a time) and I went to the dollar store and bought a second 24 disc book. I did forget to take pictures of the first book I did as I went along so one or two pictures may not be like the others. Here is what we did:

Zippered soft cover disc book

White duct tape. I used the white because I wanted her to be able to put stickers or draw on the tape to personalize them.








When I attached the tape I did so with the book open, not sure why. It just seemed easier at 2am when I was working on this.







Covered in the tape, I had a bit of over-lap. The edges were a you-know-what to get the tape to stay. I have since gone back and using a little bit of hot glue to secure them down

I took a permanent marker and wrote her name and what each book was on the side.

Later on she and I sat down and decorated both books with stickers. I know the stickers probably won't stay on long, but it allows her to be more creative in the future.






May your fingers always be sticky,
Amy

Scent packs for storage

At some point we all have fabric items in storage. Seasonal items, items awaiting a yard sale/donation bin, consignment store or packed up for a long distance move.  I'll never forget how bad everything smelled when we moved from the States to Germany and back to the States. Fact is storage stinks and buying scented discs/pouches are expensive.

One of my best friends is a Scentsy fragrance consultant. She has gotten me hooked. For several months now I have been just disposing of my used wax. And then we started packing to move from Southwest Georgia to the middle of Wisconsin and I have been trying to figure out how best to keep the items that will be packed away from smelling. Then I realized I could reuse my wax, it may not be strong enough to fragrance a room but could still be strong enough to fragrance an enclosed plastic container. Scentsy carries a line of sachets to place in doors, closets, whatever and they are very reasonably priced. But for a family of 4 it can get expensive to place in that many boxes.

Normally when I have my warmer turned on I only do one cube of wax at a time in each warmer and I will have 1 to 3 warmers going depending on what's happening at the house. 

My favorite warmer with melted wax (it was time to change out the wax anyway) and two cotton balls. Scentsy wax comes in 2 different sizes bars or bricks. Each bar/brick is broken down into smaller "cubes". I discovered one cube will saturate 2 cotton balls about halfway. Which is what I wanted.

 Drop cotton balls into wax and allow them to soak up wax, you may need to wipe them around a little (this also cleaners your warmer for when you add new wax).







Place cotton balls on wax paper to dry.

Once dry place balls into plastic bags and seal. I wrote on the outside what fragrance was in each bag just for reference. Once I get ready to put them in the boxes I will cut a small hole in the bags to release the fragrance. Since it involves an oil based fragrance I will leave the cotton balls in the bags just to protect the fabrics and save me the hassle of dealing with any staining.



Science has shown that smells are the greatest sensory trigger to memory. Hopefully if it already smells like home this will make settling into a new place that much easier.

May your nose always lead you home,
Amy

Stopping traffic

Being from Atlanta, GA I know it doesn't take much to bring traffic to a screeching halt. But I have a better way to stop traffic.... hot glue!  LOL

My husband has a little brother who is 6.  My little BIL's room is done with a "road" about halfway up the wall with cars, trucks, etc.  All hand painted. Very cute.  And since he always gets a ton of toys, books & movies I wanted to do something special for him this year for Christmas.

I saw an idea on pinterest of a letter that a woman using something in the Microsoft suite turned into a road, had blown up to poster size and then glued cars to that and framed it. Unfortunately the way his room is set up the MIL says there is no room for something of that size.

But thanks to Hobby Lobby, I was able to take a 13" wood letter and turn it into what I wanted.

 I took the plain letter and painted it black.

 Then using masking tape I tried to make the dotted white line. But those curves sucked!

 White paint over the tape for the lines. I did have to do a little touch up work when I removed the tape.
 

After the touch up paint dried I covered the letter with some Mod Podge, just as a sealant. When that dried it was time to add the cars. My original idea of using standard sized match box cars didn't work. They were just to big. So enter these little mini cars. I attached them using some hot glue and tried to position them in a way so it looked like a conceivable traffic pattern.  My dotted lines did not turn out exactly perfect but I think they are ok and will look good in his room.





Stay Crafty, My Friends!

Blanket with Binding

How to add satin blanket binding to a fleece blanket:
1. Buy blanket and ribbon binding
2. Take to a seamstress and drop off
3. Return when ready and pick up blanket
4. Go home, have a glass of wine and congratulate yourself on a handmade gift for a loved one.

This is what I should have done (all except the wine, I don't drink anymore).  But no, I decided to do this myself.  I bought this really pretty fleece no-sew blanket.  I could have just cut and tied the blanket like you are supposed to.  But oh no I decided to add on "hunter safety orange" ribbon binding.

I have had some folks exhibit some surprise that I can sew. When I mention a sewing project on facebook at least one person says "Oh wow Amy I didn't know you could sew!" I just want to say that I really can't, I can however use obscenities fluently and untangle thread jams.

I decided to make this blanket for my son since we are moving to The Great White North shortly.  I'm sure my great grandmother would have said that the project was not nearly as complicated as I made it.  I know also if she was here she would insist that I rip out the seams and start again because they are crooked and you can see where I had to patch/start over.  But I think for my first attempt its not that bad.  I have 2 more blankets to make as gifts and then I don't care if I ever attach ribbon binding again.

What the (sea)shell?

Yes pun intended, even if it is a bad pun.

I have to say my family LOVES the ocean and beach, we everyone but my husband does.  And where there is a beach there is an abundance of shells.  My brother and his family go every year and my mom collects shells so we have more than we know what to do with. In talking with my sister in law I came up with a gift for them.  Saw the idea on Pinterest (starting to think I might have an addiction) but put my own spin on it. The SIL forgot to bring me the shells she wanted me to use (ones that they had collected) so we just raided my mom's stash of shells and I bought a few things at Hobby Lobby just to use as some filler.

Step 1: Canvas panel. They are usually about $10 or $12 for a pack of 3. I painted it with a sand color that I had mixed up for a previous craft and had mixed to much so I used some of the left overs.

Step 2: Wooden 13.5 inch letter from Hobby Lobby. Painted it just plain white.  My original idea was to completely cover in shells so that you wouldn't see the wooden form underneath, but I wanted it white so that if anything was showing through the cracks it wasn't bare wood.





 Step 3: I decided after all my painting was done that it needed a little something else on the canvas panel. I decided to see how it would look to do a top coat of sand on the painted canvas.  I tried a couple different things, but what worked best was mixing sand and Mod Podge and then applying that to the panel.  I didn't measure it, I just added sand and Mod Podge in a small bowl until I had the consistency of runny cornmeal. I used the Gloss Mod Podge simply because it is what I had and the stuff is to expensive for me to buy multiple bottles in one works just fine.

Sand & Mod Podge "batter"

 Step 4: Taking a cheap paint brush I brushed the sand/Mod Podge mix over the canvas.  It will go on white but the Mod Podge dries clear so the original paint shows through only now instead of just a boring flat painted canvas its got a rough texture from the sand.

Completed Canvas and "S".  Ready to add the shells and glue the letter to the canvas.







COMPLETED!!!! I got my 9 year old nephew involved.  He's really creative and artistic with an eye for detail, color and style.  He had the idea not to paint the shells white but leave them as they were and to let the white "S" show through to give it contrast. Using the hot glue gun (and about 6 sticks of glue) I attached each shell, then attached the "S" to the canvas using Mod Podge. Finally I attached the starfish last. And a final coat of Mod Podge to seal and give it all a bit of shine.

It turned out so well my brother suggested started my own business making things like this. We'll see for now I am happy doing these type things as gifts for family and friends.

Yarn Wreath

So I have a couple obsessions when it comes to Pinterest. And wreaths are one. Now that we have kids I really want to get into decorating and celebrating the seasons and holidays in a big way... like when I was kid.

My maternal grandmother (called Nan) has a birthday the day after mine. Family legend is that she begged my mother to wait another 33 minutes so that we would share a birthday. Nan also is in mid stage Alzheimer's and (since we are moving) this will probably be the last birthday that I get to see her and Nan know who I am. I decided to make her a special present. In comes my Pinterest boards. Nan is an old school Southern lady, and getting worse as the Alzheimer's takes more of her mind. And for some reason there HAS to be a wreath on the door. So what better gift than a homemade yarn wreath.

The styrofoam form and yarn. I bought the wrong kind of ring, but it was all they had. Also it the ring at Hobby Lobby was double the price as the the same size form at Walmart. I used the Red Heart yarn because it was the cheapest yarn I could find. And I used maybe 75% of the skein wrapping. Start this off take a styrofoam wreath form (or flexible tubing bent into a circle and then end secured with duct tape). Wrap the yarn around and around until completely covered in yarn leaving the center open.

Colored felt and the diamond shape templates I used. I loved that burgundy color (on bottom). It just seemed so much more like the Fall than the brighter red colors. I took strands of the brown yarn and tied each diamond to the wreath individually.

The decorations I used for the wreath. I got them in the seasonal decor aisle at Hobby Lobby. I pack of sunflowers and one pack of the different leaves (the leaves came as a mixed pack). Side Note: I love sunflowers, they are my favorite flower, so I wanted to put a little something of me in this wreath.

Completed wreath. I used lots of hot glue to secure the leaves to the backs of the sunflowers and then lots more hot glue to secure that to the wreath.

I couldn't remember if Nan had a hanger on the door or a section cup to hang her wreaths from. So I made an extra long tie. I took 9 strands of brown yarn and braided them together to add some strength. Then threaded then through the backside of the wreath. I can remove it or cut it down to fit if I need too.

Special thanks to the hubby for not only holding the yarn while I braided but also for holding the wreath while I took this picture.