Lightbulb Bud Vase Cool Copper Projects Warm metallic hues are easy to love but often pricey. When you create the look... Easy Doily Bowl Craft a decorative bowl from a doily picked up from a flea market, antique... Camper Birdhouse Encourage birds to stay awhile with an adorable vintage birdhouse. DIY Solar Bottle Bulb If you don’t have electricity or live in a home with no windows, it’s going to be dark inside, even during a sunny day. Luckily, a bottled liter of water with some bleach can provide approximately 55-60 watts of light from the sun. This simple idea has helped many dwellers in the light-deprived slums of the Philippines. “A Liter of Light” is a sustainable lighting project by Illac Diaz which aims to bring the eco-friendly Solar Bottle Light to disprivileged communities worldwide. Website: isanglitrongliwanag.org | Images: 1, 2, Kara Santos
Take-Out Box Templates FREEBIE! | Designs by Megan Turnidge | Digital Scrapbooking and Crafting Blog I’m in a good mood and thought I’d come share one of my old products! These layered Take-Out Box Templates are super cute and fun to make! Perfect for packaging up small gifts and treats! It includes 2 sizes and they come in both .psd and layered .tif file formats. FOR PERSONAL USE ONLY! If you’d like to purchase a limited commercial use license (this includes creating freebies for your blog) then you can contact me using the contact form. Enjoy! EDIT: I have made a separate download for paper scrappers/non-digi scrappers/people without Photoshop. You can now download ready to print PDF files for these templates!
Growing Home: The Elastic-Waist Flirt Skirt (inspired by J.Crew) I am SO excited to be sharing this project with you. Not because it’s so crazy amazing (I’m a newbie sewer, so it’s actually rather basic), but because it is the very FIRST article of clothing that I’ve ever sewn for myself. Honestly, I never expected to make myself anything--I started sewing to make things for our home and the boys, and never expected to do much else. Adult clothes have to fit, and the idea of making that possible intimidates me. Then, a few weeks back, I purchased this little number at J. Before I go any further, let me tell you this: making this skirt is EASY. Ironically, though, the construction isn’t obvious. See, the first step in copying any piece of clothing (or, in other words, using a piece of clothing to make a pattern) is turning it inside out. Rectangular pockets attached up underneath the elastic casing. So I was left to figure a few things out by myself again. I love my new skirt. Happy Weekend! p.s. Materials 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. And that’s it!
Party Hats DIY + Template I love making party hats. I usually make my own because it is surprisingly hard to find party hats in normal colors. If I do happen to find them in the colors I like then I still spruce them up with my own fringe or flowers. Sometimes though I do prefer them plain like this one I put on Roman. I did a post on this a few years ago (here + here) but it is high time for an update. Materials: Downloadable Hat Template Click here to download. Basic Party Hat Instructions Step 1: Download hat pdf right here. That is how to make a basic hat. Once you have your hat then it’s time for the fun part: Embellishment! Embellishment Instructions Step 1. There are other ways I decorate the hats. They take a little bit of time to make but afterward you can keep them and bust them out for any party to make it extra festive.
DIY HAIR NECKLACE In this beautiful world of buns + top knots, we’re always searching for ways to mix it up. Today’s DIY helps us do just that! Making hair jewelry can be really fun & it’s very likely that you’ll have most of these supplies already at home! photos+ tutorial by Kristin Ess TOOLS: Wire cutters, flat-head pliers, thin gold wire, strands of necklace chain, a brass loop, a small hair comb + a bobby pin that matches your hair color. Open the brass loop.String your first chain on to the loop.Continue stringing chain until you have as many as you want on there. Related posts:
Silk-Dyed Eggs {aka TIE-Dyed!} I posted this tutorial a few years ago and it has become somewhat of a tradition to bring it back every year! One of our family Easter traditions is dying eggs with pieces of silk. I saw a cute lady show Martha how to do it a few years ago and I ran upstairs right then to steal a tie! It’s way cooler than those cups of neon liquid that end up all over your clothes, your furniture and your hands plus it gives you an excuse to rid a man’s closet of ugly ties. Here’s the run-down: You need 100% silk for this to work. I try to find an assortment of colors and patterns. Usually it will tell you if it’s 100% silk right on the main label of the tie, but a lot of them don’t, and if that’s the case, check that little tiny end, it’s usually hiding there. The first step is to deconstruct the tie. Next you cut a piece large enough to cover an egg. Now, notice how I tied the eggs in the above photo- with the tie on the top of the long side of the egg. I wish eggs came like this at the grocery store.
Paper Flower Roundup As promised, here is a roundup from around the web of some gorgeous paper flowers! All of these would be great for weddings, home decor or a gift for your special someone this Valentine's Day! Above you will see a rose that I made thanks to a great tutorial and template from Ellinee. I tried several roses, I will post more photos of mine at the bottom of this post, and I can say that regular copy paper (or paper of a similar weight) is easiest for these, though you can also make them with card stock and vellum without too much trouble. I really love these as I have seen several tutorials for roses around the web that are either too simple and so don't look very realistic or need you to cut out every single petal individually (and who has the time to do all that?). The rose template even comes in several colors so you could print it out onto white copy paper and get a variety of colors! Of course, no paper flower roundup is going to be complete without mention of my own tutorials!
flax & twine for easy craft tutorials and diy projects: Finger Knitting How-to You know how I just wrote about how I like getting a handmade gift more than just about anything. Well, this is anything. Sitting on the couch on a lazy Sunday, knitting with my kids . . . that beats gift-getting for sure. It is a gift itself. The two kiddos are finger-knitting, which I’ve written about before and again, but it continues to be a favorite activity. You end up with a long coil of knitting like this, that curls itself into a sort of tube. My son is using a finer and less expensive yarn, here. They really do enjoy the process. Some day, I’ll make a coiled rug from the pieces. **UPDATE: So many people have asked me for a PDF of the below how-to so they can take the directions on the road for their kiddos. Materials: Any yarn An eager kiddo Time: However long you want! I think that super-bulky yarn is a good weight to start with. Start by placing the yarn in between your thumb and hand, such that the tail hangs behind your hand. Next, bring the yarn around your index finger.
michael ann made.: woven friendship bracelet tutorial i love the summer friendship bracelet trend that i keep seeing in blog land, so i thought it would be fun to share with you another way to weave a friendship bracelet. one of the parents at work showed me this technique of using a circular cardboard loom and i love how quick it goes, you can easily finish a bracelet in one sitting. - cardboard - something small and circular (like a teacup or ramekin) - scissors, ruler, pen - embroidery thread in pretty colors , thin yarn, or ribbon trace a circle onto your cardboard, and use a ruler to draw 8 lines cut a small ways into each line, between 1/2 an inch to an inch and make a hole in the middle of the circle where all the lines intersect. cut 7 strands of embroidery floss, about 24 inches long and tie them together with a slip knot. pull your thread bundle through the hole in your cardboard with the knot right up next to the hole and use a little piece of tape to hold it in place while you start. now for the fun part!