Christmas Workshop: Kids' Christmas Crafts - Martha Stewart. Hardly Housewives: Christmas Paper Quilt. Since I've got a bunch of empty wall space in our house, I decided to make a seasonal paper quilt to hang in our foyer. What'll go up there on December 26? Shh... I'll figure that out when I need to. I'm the kind of person who's happy to keep up my Christmas decorations until Valentine's Day. (When I was 16 years old, I went to China. Since I had a larger frame this time (20" x 20"), I cut out 2" squares - 20 squares for 3 of the papers and 21 squares for the 4th patterns. I pasted each square onto white 20" x 20" paper in the basic quilt pattern...
Once all of the squares were on and the glue dried, I put it into the frame and hung it up! I have a feeling there's more to come in my paper quilt career! Hardly Housewives. Etsy - Your place to buy and sell all things handmade, vintage, and supplies. Rustic Antler Chandelier solid Cedar Log 5 foot in by antler4u. Natural Deer Horn Buttons Antler Set of 5 by kattywhompusvintage. 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.
Yours too? It's okay ~ I understand. 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. Cube Magnets Elegant and modern office and home by LillysHouse. Ingenious Inkling: Magnet Mania Tutorial. These are one of my favorite gifts to make. There's been a bit of an "inchies" craze going around the blog world ... well these are my 3/4 inchies.
What they both have in common is that you have to look at your stamps and papers differently when you're only going to be displaying a very small portion. Often, I take a glass accent marble and move it across the paper to see how things look when magnified by the glass. I discovered that the glitter flowers from the DCWV glitter paper fit perfectly inside of the 3/4 inch circle punch (top row). Also, one of the tiny snowmen from the A Muse Snow Pals stamp looks great too. I start by punching out a variety of 3/4" circles. Once they are dry, I use the same E-6000 adhesive to adhere the magnets to the images. *** You can see more Magnet Mania here.
DIY Chore Chart: A work in progress project. Both of my boys are at an age where they need to have daily responsibilities. Some of them are things that they should be expected to do (unpack backpacks, clear dishes after dinner), while other things are what I would call chores (taking out trash/recycling, feeding the dog). Chores = allowance. Currently, I’ve found myself constantly reminding them of each and every thing they need to do and its driving me a little crazy.
My life revolves around lists, so why not give them their own little To Do List and bring the level of chaos down a notch? A chore chart? Yep! I bought this metal magnetic board from Ikea a few years ago while remodeling the laundry room and never used it. I’ve stumbled across some great ideas for chore charts and knew that I wanted something magnetic. I think Ikea might still carry this item. To dress up the plain magnetic board, I used a plastic valance from an old blind. Once I had the metal framed out, I moved on to setting up the actual chart. No joke. DIY Pantone chip magnets. I try to keep loose Pantone chips in an envelope for future projects, but these nice colors escaped and attached themselves to my file cabinet. If you happen to own a Pantone chip book or can beg a few chips from someone you know, here's how to whip up some little candy-like magnets. Cut small pieces of bookboard or other thick cardboard with an X-acto knife.
(Bookboard is likely available at your local art store or PaperSource.) Make the pieces exactly the size of the Pantone chips. Then paint the edges white; I used acrylic paint for this. Attach the chip to the cardboard. Then cover the face of the chip with paper glaze. Finally, attach a magnet to the back. CAL :: Learn to chain, single crochet, and turn your work. (If you still haven't signed up for the crochet along, hop over to this post and add your name to the list of participants! Also, if you have any questions at all along the way, leave them in the comments or write to me at maybematildaquilts [at] gmail.com--I'll do my best to answer them!) Today is our first stitch lesson for the crochet along! I'll admit, I've been a little nervous about the teaching part of this crochet along--I've admitted before that I don't think I'm a very good teacher, but here's hoping that it's a little easier online, with pictures and text that I can plan out ahead of time, than it is in person, where I fumble through nonsensical explanations and always resort to, "No, do it like this . . . like this!
Thiiiiiiiiiis! " So here's the plan: I'm going to give you my own explanations with pictures, but include plenty of links to other great resources that will probably be much more helpful than what I have to offer. Before You Start View from the top: Chain Stitch. How to make a gift bow | Bits + Pieces. Simple Bow Hair Clips (with no-slip grip) When my oldest girl was a brand new baby (who is now almost 5 years old), I made bows for her head/hair.
Lots of them. I got a little tired of telling people that she was a girl, not a boy. The pink and purple outfits were never distinct enough for people to realize she was a girl. But if I slapped a little bow on that sweet little head, there was never any mistaking that she was a girl. I loved making her all those bows so much, that I started a little bow making business, through a blog. (Okay, fess up! That was almost 5 years ago, WOW………and back when blogs were such a brand new trend. So now that I have another little girl, I pulled out the old stash of little hair clippies with the no-slip grip on it…….and have been clipping them right to her super fine hair too.
(Though, this time around…….I could care less if someone thought she was a boy. Some bows are more complicated and are a serious masterpiece (though I don’t care for the bigger ones anymore)……. Simple. Lovely, right? Enjoy. A shrinky plastic project. Readymade magazine sent me a sample of their shrinky sheets awhile back (you know—that Shrinky Dink stuff from when you were a kid). And I've finally gotten around to trying them out. I know I'm going to make Readymade very happy when I say this, but OH MY GOSH, IT'S SO FUN!
I used some of my own designs (you might see more soon; stay tuned!) , and here's the result. How to make: 1. They'll curl up and then flatten out in the oven. There were two kinds of sheets in the sample kit: white and clear. If you want to make some too, you can buy the sheets in the Readymade store, at Dick Blick, or just google for inkjet shrink film. Magazine. 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. Flip-Flop Refashion: Part 1 (Braided Straps) Summer is great. And warm. And full of outdoor activities and trips to the pool and random walks around the neighborhood.
I love it. And my shoe of choice for these warmer months?? So, I saw a tutorial for this flip-flop makeover (great work Mother Huddle), floating around the web…….and the wheels started turning. I decided to just string all of the ideas together and create a whole series. First up? A quick and easy flip flop…….made with some braided knit fabric scraps, using the 5 strand braiding technique, shown here. These soft braided straps streeeeeetch the perfect amount, right around the back of my heel……..keeping the flip-flop snug and in place.
I added little loops of fabric to the sides, to keep the braided straps in place. These little sandals are so light, they’re soft and stretchy, and my favorite part……..they’re inexpensive. ($2.50 to be exact) These flip-flops make me think of the beach……and make me miss GA. I guess I better find a sandy spot at the lake. And that’s it. Enjoy.