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.

Some of my favorite organizational ideas...

Last week, I shared some amazing ideas for beautiful crafting areas that are well organized, functional, and comfortable. Of course, not all of us can afford to go out and purchase furniture or specialty containers to create designer looks. Like so many, I live on a very tight budget and would much rather spend my small crafting allowance on supplies rather than storage. So, being creative, I look around my home and see what I can make or recycle.

One of my favorite way to store loose beads - everything from tiny seed beads to larger beads - is to recycle glass jars. As we finish off a jar of pickles, mayo, maraschino cherries, or whatever we have in jars, I start the process of making them storage containers. I rinse them immediately, run them through the dishwasher, and then soak in a sink filled with hot soapy water to remove the last adhesive residue and odor. Once they are dry, they are ready to be filled and stacked on a shelf.

Speaking of shelves, one of the centerpieces of my craft room is an antique kitchen cupboard given to me by my mother-in-law. I couldn't use the piece in my kitchen, so it makes great storage for my paper crafting supplies. Take a look around your house and find furniture you already have that can be moved to your craft area. 

If you don't have a room and do most of your crafting at the dining room table, being able to keep your supplies organized and packed away is vital. I love my clear plastic totes, particularly the ones for shoes. They stack easily, keep things organized fairly well, are inexpensive and can be gotten in multiple sizes.

Organization can be difficult to maintain, but it is so important in order to keep your crafting area functioning and you happy. That being said, it's also important to remember that organization doesn't have to expensive. Get those creative ideas flowing and get organized. Please share some of your favorite organizational ideas.

Scrap Supply Storage

When you are a scrapbooker, card maker or any other paper craft, it is easy to get overrun with supplies. It's not always easy to know how to organize all of the pretty papers, embellishments, pens, punches, pictures, and stickers. What's the use of having all those pretty things if you can't find what you want when you are looking for it?


I ran across a great slide show over on BHG.com that offers 20 Creative Scrapbooking Storage Solutions. There are some really cool ideas here to help keep things organized and easy to find. Click here to read the article.

Tiny Teddy

This tiny little teddy bear is a needle-felted creation that has been waiting several months to get finished. He needs his little feet finished, pads added to his paws and to be put together. Needle-felting is a bit more detail oriented, especially when working on this scale. You can see the quarter next to his little head for scale.

Ultimately, this little guy look a lot like his brother when he's done. When seen side by side, they are quite similar. I'm hoping that when he is done this little teddy will have a personality all his own. But first I have to finish him!

Happy Crafting All!

Flower Girls Baskets

With two flower girls, there needed to be two baskets. The baskets also needed larger than baskets that I was finding in stores. The bride wanted snow dropped down the aisle rather than traditional flower petals as to keep with the snowflake theme.

I ended up finding a great pattern online for a fabric basket. The pattern that I found was geared more towards being an Easter basket, but using a snowflake print material instantly made it wedding appropriate. The basket retains its shape because of the heavy duty, double-sided fusible interfacing.

Once the base of each basket was completed, I strung large plastic pearls on to 18 gauge wire to construct the handle. The handle was sewn into place and the basket was finished with an accent bow in the wedding color and large, irridescent crystal button.

Seeing my adorable nieces walk down the aisle, tossing a delicate layer of snowflakes had an amazing effect.

Happy Crafting All!

Ring-Bearer Pillow

There is no more important accessory to a wedding than the ring-bearer pillow. It is the showcase for the rings the bride and groom will exchange as a symbol to their ever-lasting love. The pillow should fit the theme of the wedding adding continuity to the ceremony decor, but it should not over power or overshadow the rings.

Keeping with the snowflake theme, I used silver-lined seed beads to stitch a snowflake design onto white sateen. I decided to make the sateen in to a pillow cover and made a simple pillow insert. Now the pillow cover can be easily added to a scrapbook or shadow box. The pillow was finished with a thin white ribbon to secure the rings to the pillow for the walk down the aisle.

Happy Crafting All!

Guest Book...

The guestbook at a wedding is so important to the couple once the day is over. There is just not always enough time to spend with all of the guests that attend the ceremony and reception. Having everyone sign in is a great way to remember everyone that attended and know who to send thank you cards to.

My step-son and his bride decided on a snowflake theme for their wedding. So all of the accessories had to match that theme. When I was deciding on what to do with the guestbook, I knew I wanted to do something special. Most guestbooks are five pages of signatures and fifty blank pages. I wanted to give the couple a book they would be happy to look through again and again.

For the outside, I created a book cover out of white sateen and used white embroidery thread to stitch a snowflake. It was a long process but so worth it when it was finished. The completed cover fit snuggly over the book and looked amazing.

Each page was hand made and embellished with either snowflakes, ribbon in the wedding colors or a picture of the couple. By making each page a little different, the entire book is unique and filled with visual memories of the day that will last forever.

The guestbook must also have a matching pen. I bought a plain silver guestbook pen on a clear plastic base. There was not much that needed to be done to this. Because of the small size, too much embellishing would have easily been overkill. To decorate the base, I cut the tabs off of silver snowflake brads that I found in the scrapbook section of Michaels. Using double-sided adhesive foam, it was easy to fix the embellishments to the base.

This is how the guestbook was presented to guests the day of the wedding.

Happy Crafting All!

For The Bridesmaids...

Yesterday I showed you the bridal bouquet from an important wedding last November. Today, I'm sharing the bridesmaids bouquets.

These arrangements were made in line with the bridal bouquet, each featuring a beaded lily centerpiece surrounded by ribbon flowers. The ribbon flowers coordinate with the the wedding colors and the bridesmaid dresses.

As you can see, the Matron of Honor's bouquet was just slightly different indicating her place in the bridal party. Her arrangement featured more the dark purple than the others.

The effect was amazing and the best compliment I received was when the photographer's assistant stated he didn't even realize they weren't real flowers.

All told, the flowers were a little tedious to make, only because I don't like doing the same thing over and over. But the end result was well worth the tedium.

Happy Crafting All!

Simple Clip Magnets

Aren't these clip magnets adorable? They were sooo easy to make too. All it takes is some wooden clothes pins, pretty papers (I used a photograph on the front printed on plain white paper and scrap scrapbooking paper on the back), some .5" magnets and Modge Podge.

Use the Modge Podge to adhere the papers to each side. Once dry coat the paper and side of the clip with Modge Podge to seal; when dry coat the side. Be careful to open the clip between each sealing coat - it will get stuck closed but should easily be opened again. After the Modge Podge as completely dried, I used a gel LocTite Super Glue to adhere the magnets. And that's it! Super simple, super quick. I plan to make these for shows next year. Each magnet should securely hold 2-3 sheets of paper without the magnets giving out.

Happy Crafting All!