Special Reading Places for Kids Reading is so important. For adults and children alike. Before we did our girls room, I knew I wanted to make a special little reading place for them. This is what we came up with. I made bean bags that match their bedding, with this pattern here (tutorials are listed in the right column of their website). Then we just added shelves from Ikea. The girls love their special little spot! This is one of my favorite little reading nooks! So whimsical and magical.
Making a Valentine Paper Flower | Say Yes to Hoboken Who wouldn’t love to be given this gigantic paper flower on Valentine’s Day this year? It’s incredible! Find the full tutorial here on Green Wedding Shoes. (images by Studio Castillero)A few other flower themed craft tutorials seen around the web:Hanging Heart Charms at MADEMini Crepe Paper Flower Favors at Oh Happy DayDIY Wedding Day Flower Wall at A Beautiful MessI feel like I’ve been out of the loop a bit with the redesign and the two weeks we were away.Any brilliant tutorials/craft projects out there I missed? I’d love to hear your favorites! Believe I have the blessing to be part of a great organization inside of the church I belong to; called Young Women. The theme for the girls {age 12 to 17} this year is “believe”. I’ve been thinking a lot during the last six months about such a simple word and what it means to me… However it was during this weekend that I found myself thinking more deeply about it while working on these little necklaces that I was making for our girls… So please forgive me if you came visiting looking for a craft or just a cool tutorial because I am afraid that today what you are getting instead is a piece of my heart… These are the tools I used to make the necklaces: My sweet friend Bonnie’s Steel Stamping Set, Hammer {the poor thing has seen better days}, Sharpie and a cleaning rag. Materials Your choice size washers. 1/8″ Steel Stamps. Chain and Embellishments. The first thing I did was stamp the washers. For this I used the 1/8″ steel stamps and a hammer. After I had stamped the washers they looked like this… …love them!
How to make a scratch off lottery ticket? You probably know the scratch off lottery tickets? Ever wondered how to make them? Well, they are very fun & easy to make.I used to make greeting cards from them but now I'm going to use this technique as a promotional tool.I made 25 scratch off tickets and will include 1 ticket with every order I ship.On one of those tickets, there is a coupon code and a value of 25 dollars to spend in my shop on Etsy. Waaaahhh, exciting! Here is what you need:cardboard, a print-out of your lottery ticket, glue stick, sticky back plastic (contact paper), metallic acrylic paint (preferably silver) and washing liquid.I prepared the paper cutting beforehand so I'll skip that part in the tutorial. :) Beforehand you print out a design that you want to be on the scratch off lottery tickets.If your printer can take thick paper you can print it directly on the cardboard and skip this part. Then you take a piece of sticky back plastic and put it onto the design. And then... scratch!
Backlit Canvas Art Do you have one project that you've been longing to do, but just haven't found the time yet? This is it for me. I call it my Backlit Canvas Art and the inspiration piece has been pinned in my "Crafts to try" Pinterest board for ages. My "pin"speration is an artist's piece made from metal that has hand cut flowers all over it. Its backlit by Christmas lights, and I pretty much love it! So I decided to give it a go and create my version. There are two main differences between the two: 1. 2. The idea of the canvas is that during the day (ie. with the Christmas light off) you have a beautiful sculpture while at night (you guessed it, with the Christmas lights on!) How about a tutorial? Supply list Mounted canvas (mine is 10"x10") cardstock to fit on your canvas (mine is 12"x12") stamps ink pad X-acto knife light source* *I wasn't sure if I wanted to use a single bulb or Christmas lights so that is why both are in the above picture. I decided to go with the same flower theme as my inspiration piece.
DIY: HAPPY EASTER egg decoration tutorials Just popping in to say Happy Easter and hope you have a relaxing weekend. I haven't decorated my eggs yet, and if you are late like me, here's some great decoration ideas. Just klick on the images to grab the full tutorials. Break an Egg! I just had to include the beautiful photo of the vintage eggs below, an image I found on Pinterest, but with no proper source. And last, but not least - Danish designer Arne Jacobsen's Egg . WABI SABI interior design art photography Tutorial | The Ochre elephant The Bean bag Cube When your living area is 10 feet wide and to end and you have a sofa and no other place to sit, what do you do? Look for other options. But what ? After a lot of thought I found these beauties. This one is from Crate and Barrel ( No Longer available ) This Is from West Elm I am not sure how much each of them cost as they are not available . For making a square bean bag you will need to decide the measurements for the bean bag. These are the materials I used . The fabric used was thick upholstery material. I started with two pieces of 24 inches X 24 inches and four pieces of 24 inches X 12 inches. Take one 24 X 24 piece and place it correct side down on your work space. Turn the fabric around such that the correct sides face up. Now stitch the adjoining 12 inch sides. Stitch the remaining 24 X 24 inch piece on three sides of the bucket making sure that the wrong side is out. The structure is ready. The structure can be filled with the Styrofoam beans. Lounge on! Love Rashmi 1. 2.
The Shabby Creek Cottage - interior design and home remodeling on a budget: 31 days: Book page garland I think I’m gettin’ my creative mojo back! Today’s post isn’t technically Halloween, but it is part of my Halloween mantle (which you’ll see later this week), so I think it counts It’s all about the book page garland, baby! I love working with book pages. Once your pages are all dried & stuff, then crumple them long ways into somewhat of a fan shape and put a staple or two to keep them together. The more the merrier! then staple them together in a line, layering them in front and behind of each other. Once I had two sets of 8 sheets done, then I layered them together and stapled them. These sections look nice and full once you’ve got all those sheets on there. Staples – lots and lots and lots o’ staples. All those pages & staples really make the layers and layers worth all the effort…. I tucked the staple side down onto the mantle – but watch out! Look at all that ruffley paper on that book page garland – yum-o!
25 Handmade Gifts Under $5 If your gift list is long and your budget is small here are some great Handmade Gifts that you can make. Keep in mind that handmade items are not just beautiful but special… I love to give them and I love to receive them. In my opinion they are the best! Jersey Knit Bracelet Lovely! This would make a perfect gift for any of your girlfriends. You can choose the colors and recycle t-shirts that you have around the house. Cheap and cute! tutorial Paper Clip Earrings Tutorial This is a brilliant idea… and the possibilities are endless. Love it! Printed Candles Who doesn’t love a candle? Think about how many different stamps you could use to customize this project. tutorial Hot Chocolate Art! What a great gift for neighbors and teachers… I am personally a hot chocolate lover so this would make a great gift for me tutorial Tile Coaster You can buy these plain tiles at Home Depot for under a dollar. I’ve seen them with family pictures also… Way cute! tutorial Bow Belt I was amazed how easy this tutorial was. So Pretty!
Spring DiY - Recycle flower pots! You will need: Υλικά: 1 old flower pot παλιές γλάστρες 3 or 4 smaller ones 1 μεγάλη και 3-4 μικρές 1 old broom stick (or metallic pipe) 1 σκουπόξυλο (ή χαλκοσωλήνα) plants φυτά soil χώμα You need a way to make your broom stick stable inside the big pot, so as to hold the weight of the smaller pots later on. Το βασικό στοιχείο στην κατασκευή είναι να σταθεροποιήσουμε το σωλήνα μέσα στην γλάστρα, για να κρατήσει το βάρος των μικρότερων αργότερα. Then put the big pot (upside -down) on top of your filled pot and then turn them both around (if you just turn the filled pot in the bigger one..you might end up spilling all the soil). Μετά γυρίστε την μεγάλη γλάστρα ανάποδα, σκεπάστε την μικρή (ακουμπώντας τον εσωτερικό πάτο της μεγάλης στα χείλη της μικρής για να κρατήσετε το χώμα) και αναποδογυρίστε τις μαζί.Γεμίστε την μεγάλη γλάστρα με χώμα. Water the soil as to avoid any air between the small pot and the soil. Πoτίστε πολύ καλά το χώμα για να αποφύγετε κενά αέρα ανάμεσα στη βάση και το χώμα.
DIY Hand Stitching, part 1 One of my favorite crafts is hand stitching-- it's fun, addictive, expressive and relaxing :) Over the next few weeks, I'm going to share easy ways to make your own patterns for hand stitching along with some tips and ideas :) These are some samples of my past projects-- I like to draw patterns freehand and use my handwriting. However, sometimes I adapt clipart type images to make a more complicated pattern, like the sewing machine or I just stitch the outline of an image I love, like the Goonies "Hey You Guys" silhouette :) I use a Back Stitch for all my hand stitching because it's very versatile and I like the look but you can use any combination of stitches for your projects... there's lots of fun ones! Today, we're going to start with handwriting & transferring your pattern :) You will Need: - Card-stock or Thick Paper (I cut a piece of 6x8" card-stock & folded it in half to create a greeting card) - Needle & Scissors - Embroidery Thread - Scrap Paper & Pen - Thumbtack or Piercing Tool
Natural Bean Jewelry “Me, sexy? I’m just plain ol’ beans and rice.” — Pam Grier Once thought of as the seat of the soul, beans have been buried with the dead, deemed the seed of sin, grown for almost nine millennia, and eaten daily across the globe. With over 4,000 cultivar they come in coats of many colors: rich red and purple kidney, tawny intricate tans of cranberry, or the the simple stark contrast of the black eye. I’m Lisa Kraushaar of radicals — by day a mild-mannered Etsy Admin — here to show you how to make beans into beads, and focus on the legume’s more decorative values. Supplies You’ll Need: Approximately 300 dry beans, any type (Pictured above are calypso beans, black eyed peas, red beans, and cranberry beans.)Waxed threadFlex shaft or dremel hand tool (or any tool that drills)1mm drill bitBench pin (or another wooden surface to drill into)4 mm spherical burrSuper glueScissors Directions: 1. Beans with drilled holes. 2. Hold your flex shaft firmly, but without a stiff wrist. 3. 4. 5. 6.
Sophisticated Salt Dough | make it give it I can totally remember being a kid and making salt dough ornaments at Christmas time. Snowmen, hearts, stars all painted and glittered, albeit a bit lumpy, hanging heavy on the tree. Fun. Thirty plus years later, they're still fun to make and can have a more sophisticated look. Enter Pinterest....my newest and best love. and these from Marley and Lockyer (actually of white clay) I love how elegant these ornaments look especially knowing that they come together with the most humble of ingredients: salt, flour and water. Here's what you'll need: 1 cup flour1/2 cup table salt1/2 cup warm water I put the dough hook onto my kitchen aid, put in all the ingredients and let it go for about 8 minutes. I'm doing my tree in silver and cream this year and I love the script stamp M&L used. I rolled out, stamped and cut the dough directly onto my silpat because I didn't want to move them once they were ready to go into the oven.
DIY Paper Flower Cone Bouquets Mar 5 by Brittany Watson Jepsen Are you a cone or cup person? I was usually a cup type of girl myself (save a few calories? why not!) Materials: ice cream cone (waffle or sugar), x-acto knife, glue gun, cutting board, scissors, skewers about 3-4″ long, garden pot 2″ in diamter(optional to be used as stand), bright colored paper for flowers, green paper for leaves, striped paper for cone covers (free download here) Click through for all the instructions! Step 1: Using Jordan’s party hat template, scale down the size to fit your cone and draw it diagonally on the striped paper. Step 2: Cut around the template. Step 3: Wrap it around the cone and secure it with double-sided tape. Step 4: For the flowers, I created a rose from my tutorial here. Step 5: Glue gun the skewer to the inside of the flower and hold in place until dry. Step 6: Cut out leaves from the green paper. Step 7: Roll them around a pencil to create shape. Step 8: Dab some glue onto the tip of the leaf and attach to the cone paper.