BOO to you

The best thing about October, aside from the hot chocolate weather, is Halloween. It is the best gift to kids you can give. Think about it - they get to dress up and get free candy. It is a nice way to start the holiday season, give them something fun before all the more formal family get-togethers.

I couldn't resist making a fun door decoration to celebrate. These cute little characters were designed in craft felt and stuffed lightly to give them some dimension. They are stitched to a piece of doubled organza ribbon and accented with orange and black 1/4" ribbon.

I probably should have taken the time to stitch the facial features and letters, but I was really trying to keep it simple. (I've been sick for over a week and dealing with a couple of migraines, so some slack should be given.)

To keep it simple, I used puffy paint. This was probably not the best idea. the cat's smile is a little lopsided, and so is the bat's fangs, and my letters are less than perfect. But to be honest, that doesn't bother me. I like the flawed, handmade look. I don't make things to be picture perfect or look like they belong in a magazine. The imperfections make them special and mine, and so I always encourage new and novice crafters to embrace the imperfections and learn from them, but don't stress about them!

A Welcoming Thought (Or a Wreath Alternative)

 This is the time of year that we are supposed to be taking stock of our blessings, thinking about warmth, family and harvest. At least that's how I feel. The holidays are fast approaching and with family stopping by more often, I wanted to start decorating for the season.

There are tons of wreath tutorials and some really beautiful designs out there for this time of year. Don't believe, go look at pinterest. Personally, I'm not a big fan of wreaths and with my screen, they are hard to see. Plus, I don't have that much room to store them. So I decided on an alternative.

I started with this free template from BHG.com for a pillow. I loved the look of it but wanted to personalize it a little. Rather than enlarging as directed, I printed it out on a single piece of paper and cut the pieces out of craft felt. There was the main orange background, a yellow-orange body and the brown stem.

With a pencil, I free handed some lettering and the swirly-curlies and then hand stitched the beads down. For a little extra touch I outlined the stem in the same gold beads as the swirly-curlies and used a pale green ribbon to hang it. There is no stuffing or stiffener to this at all, just basically two layers of felt.

It looked a little plain on my 70's-tastic front door, so I added the fall leaf wreath from yesterday's post to it. My DH gave it his stamp of approval, so it will be up for a bit, until I get my Halloween door project finished...

Fall Leaves For the Home

Fall and spring are my favorite times of year. I love watching all the colors change and transition. Even though all the leaves on my trees are still bright, vibrant greens, I know the changes are coming. The days are cooler, the nights are getting chilly and I'm starting to crave hot chocolate.

Since the leaves outside aren't changing fast enough, I decided to make myself a little bit of fall for the house. Using templates I found on My Cute Stamps, I cut my leaves out of brown, red, orange and yellow craft felt. I added some gold glitter puff paint for the veining and contrast. (Besides who doesn't love a little glitter when it won't rub off on everything!)

The biggest problem was figuring out what to do them. My first thought was a fall table runner or something decorative over my front door. I decided the best thing, given my limited time, was to stitch some 1/4" ribbon to the back (it's a nice pale green) and make a garland.

Yes, my picture is horrible, but I blame time constraints at the moment. Eventually I will update with a better picture.

At any rate, I cut one of each leaf out of each color and ended up with a total of 16 which were then alternated along the ribbon. I hand stitched it because I was watching E and A and couldn't get to my sewing machine. Realistically, using the machine you could easily connect as many as you want in very little time.

Now to figure out what to do with it.

A Tweet Idea

J's girlfriend is still learning basic stitching so the stitches are a little wonky,
but I think it gives it personality!

Some of the flock we made!

 I like simple projects that I can do with people around me. When J shipped off to Ft Lee for the summer, his girlfriend and I decided to try a project. We were thinking a hanging display for over her bed, something fun and colorful. Because I've been on a bird kick I suggested birds hanging from a branch - it was a great way to recycle a branch that had fallen out of my huge tree.

Anywho, she was sold and I found a simple bird pattern which we cut out of felt. She paired which color wings with which color bird and we started sewing. First a wing to each side and then the two sides together.

It really didn't take long to get about 20 birds put together. Once they were done, I decided they needed a little more personality so I broke out my puff paint. If you need to add personality to a fabric craft, puff paint is a pretty darn good way to do it.

Simple glittery swirls on the wings, gold glitter beaks and little black eyes. This took about two days - I painted one side of all the birds one day, let them sit overnight to dry and then did the opposite side.

These little cuties have been done for a couple of weeks now and I have yet to hear how she wants to proceed with this project. I'm kinda thinking I might turn them in to a cute garland or maybe some Christmas ornaments. Hmm... the wheels are turning.

Holiday Door Valance

 I always loved those paper loop chains that kids make. They are just cute and make me think of childhood. So this year, I decided I wanted to try to adapt one of those chains to fit in with my decorations.

I opted for red and white felt for the loops. Staying with my buttons these for the year, I stitched buttons on to the red loops where the ends meet and used them to close the loop. I kept the white loops simple and just stitched them closed.

We live in a split level house, so when guests leave they will see this cute chain suspended over the door. I didn't want to just do loops, so at each end I staggered ribbon. Jingle bells and acrylic "lights" are tied to the ends of the ribbon streamers.

This is just another cute, fun decoration that can be quickly put together in an evening. I really love the childlike quality to these decorations. For me, Christmas has always been about kids and that wonderment that comes with this time of year. And my favorite decorations reflect that.

Let the Merry Begin!

Thanksgiving in my house means two things: A huge family dinner and time to decorate for Christmas. I don't take out or put up decorations until the day after Thanksgiving, that's always been our tradition. This year that has gotten tweaked a little due to a major home improvement project. As I type this, my wonderful hubby is finishing putting in the last of our beautiful new laminate wood floors. It's been a long week working on this, but the end is in sight and I'm so happy to finally have pretty new floors. My house should be all put back together and decorated by the end of the week.

One of the new decorations that will be up this year is this felt wallhanging. This is a really nice project to do with kids. While you are weaving and sewing the red and white background, let the kids decorate the tree with dimensional fabric paint, beads, sequins, buttons or whatever else you have handy.

This year I'm in love with buttons, so I stitched buttons around the border and used them as embellishments on both the tree and around the tree. The colored chain that hangs on one side added some nice texture and tied in the chain used to hang it. The chain can easily be substituted with ribbon. In total, this little project cost maybe $10 if you have to buy all the supplies, much less if you only need to get felt. It would be a nice activity for little ones, as I did with my granddaughters, sure to make memories that will be cherished every year when you take it out.

Owls are a Hoot!

Bad pun, I know, but I have been weirdly drawn to owls lately. Perhaps it's because my grandmother collected them most her life and now that she is gone, they remind me of her. The big eyes always get me, and they are surprisingly simple to try to design.

I decided one day I wanted to make some owls when I needed a project I could take with me. So searching online for cute little patterns, I came across a super cute one here from PregnancyBabyChild.com. They have  the pdf pattern available and instructions for making a mobile. I wasn't that interested in making a mobile, so I just made a few owls.

These were pretty easy and inexpensive - just felt, thread, buttons for eyes and stuffing. I could do them just about anywhere and came together quickly. Overall, very happy with them and actually want to make a few more...

Taking a Vacation (but not really...)

So I am on the road this week, taking a working vacay with my hubby. It is mostly his work and my vacation, but I'm getting a little crafting done here and there. Even though our schedule is kind of wonky, I had to share this cute little bird that I made for my granddaughters.

You can't tell me that's not completely adorable and a lot less work than a real Easter chick. I made up two these little cuties, one in pink and one in yellow. I also made up ten little felt finger puppets for their egg hunt. This little guy took less than two hours (and can probably be a lot faster if you don't have two toddlers constantly needing your attention). 


If you want to try one of these little cuties, you can find a template and instructions HERE. The only change I made was to use small beads for the eyes, rather than stitching the eyes in.


Anyway, have fun this week - I know I am!