Bleach Pen Stenciling

Just stumbled upon this while in blog world.  What a cool idea. I am thinking this technique can totally be done on t-shirts for a fun summer/beachy look.  Head on over to Crafts & Sutch for a tutorial on this "no sew bleached sand dollar pillow"

Placemat Pillow

Ok...  this is genius!  I just saw this tutorial on how to make a pillow using a fabric placemat.  WHAT???  I just can't get over how easy this looks.  I will definitely be buying a nice placemat at Target today.  They have so many cute ones and they are always seasonal and trendy.  I am SOOOO excited!

Big Top Party Decor

I found this video titled Big Top Party Decor by Simply Kelly B. so inspiring, especially as I am in the process of putting together my own son's birthday party... which is this weekend.  Yikes!  I have so much work to do...  but it's FUN work. 

Here are some still shots of Kelly B's circus theme ideas.  There are some great tutorials on her blog as well, so be sure to check it out (Simply Kelly B.)

 

DIY big impact wall art

I have been looking for ideas for some easy and quick art project to hang in my Living Room.  Here are a couple that I will definitely try.  Anyone want to try them with me?

This first one is a Paint Chip Masaic Art piece, by Hope Studios. They have a great tutorial on their site for this project.  I love the look... and the price.  Looks like it is VERY easy to make as well... might not even need hubby's help with this one :)

The next one, is a Pottery Barn inspired piece.  I have been wanting a similar wall hanging from Pottery Barn for a while now...  I don't think they carry it any longer, but the price tag was $600, I believe.  I was SO excited when I found this tutorial by The Polka Dot Umbrella.  I will most definitely try to recreate this.  However, I will absolutely have to recruit my wonderful husband to help me with the construction.  Talk about big impact, though...  This piece measures 47"x47".

Cozy Flower Pillows

Flowers are such a huge trend right now.  Seems that lately I have been seeing flower pillows on all the awesome blogs I follow.  Here are some of my favorites.  Most of these are quick and easy tutorials to make your own. 

These flower petal pillows  just use scraps of fleece...  Fleece is so inexpensive and cozy and doesn't fray, so you don't have to worry about the edges unreveling.

This Ruffled Rosette Pillow might require some sewing... but I bet I could glue it together.  The end result is great and vibrant.

This shaggy ruffled pillow also uses up a lot of fabric scraps and has more of an earthy feel to it.  I like projects like these, where you don't have to be perfect because its imperfection also happens to be its beauty.

These pillows are made with the Oh So Yummy Amy Butler fabric.  I just love Amy Butler's style and vibrant colors.  Always a great pick-me-up for me.

And last but not least, here is a video, where Kim and Kris of the "DIY Dish" share how to create fabric Yo-Yos.  Those are very popular these days as well.  Click here to view more items they have made with these fabulous flowers.

The Walrus aka Chloe's new toy

I have made these toys for Chloe several times, and she absolutely loves them.  They are quick and easy to make and are pretty much free.  First, let me explain why we call it "the walrus".  Well, I will let the pictures speak for themselves:

And as I was looking for a picture of a walrus on the Internet, I also came across this one:

Pretty disturbing, huh?  Someone took the time to Photoshop this poor puppy's face on the walrus' body.  Reminds me of a certain dog that lives in my house.  Anyway... back to the toy.

I got this really cool stash of shirts from my niece today.  I have been looking for some pink, since it's Chloe's favorite color (at least I think so)... so thank you Grace for your donation.

Here is how you can make your own "Walrus" toy:

Supplies you will need - t-shirt and scissors.  Yup, simple as that.

First disassemble your shirt.  Because mine was a smaller size I needed to find the biggest piece I could work with.  You want a nice solid piece with no seams.

Lay your fabric piece flat and cut it into as many wide strips as you can.  I made mine about 2.5" - 3" wide and ended up with 8 strips that were about 15" long.  You can use more strips, it will make your toy fuller.  Less strips will make it kind of flimsy. 

Then stack your strips and tie a knot in the middle.

Now take each strip and cut it into thinner stips toward the knot.  I made mine about 1" wide.

Once all your strips are cut, take each one and stretch it out.  They will form these cool tubes.

And once that's done...  you have yourself your very own Walrus Toy. 
Tah - Dah!!!

I also used some of the same fabric to make this really cute headband for my niece as a Thank You for parting with her old clothing items... and allowing me to cut them up. 

Etched Glass - can I really do this?

This is the end result of my first attemtp at glass etching.  It was a super easy, fast.. and very satisfying project.

Supplies you will need:  something glass (obviously).  I purchased these two candle holders a the Dollar Tree.  They are probably about 4" tall.  The reason I have two is because my sweet husband, who was home not feeling too well today, said he would like to do a project with me.  What a good sport he is!  OK, now back to the supplies.  You will aslo need Glass Etching Cream.  I purchased mine at Michaels.  Not cheap but goes a long way.  I think my 3 oz. bottle was $12.99 but I used a 40% off coupon, so it was quite a bit less.  We used foam brushes to apply the cream.  Another thing you will need is some sort of a stencil.  I bought some at Michaels but decided not to use them because I didn't have repositinobale adhesive... blah blah blah.  So, we improvised...  next step.

I used my Big Kick and cut out a flourish (Tim Holtz's die) on some contact paper.  You obviously don't need printed contact paper but that's what I had on hand, leftover from when we lined our bathroom drawers. 

Then I removed the flourishes and saved them for another use... don't know what that use might be quite yet.  You need the negative space in order to create the stencil.



We then attached it to the glass...  and used some more contact paper around the edges, so the cream wouldn't get on the parts where we didn't want it.  You also want to make sure to remove any air bubbles, so the cream won't get under your stencil.



Here is my Honey applying the etching cream to the glass. 

We applied it very liberally, tapping it on, not brushing.  I think it works better that way.  But since it was our fist time, we don't really know.  The directions say to let it sit for about 5 minutes.  I followed the directions, and Greg left his for about 15 minutes, to experiment...  we didn't see much of a difference between the two. 

Then you rinse the whole thing, washing away all of the etching cream. 

Then peel away your stencil... and marvel at the beauty of your newely etched glass.  It's SO cool!

Here are our two candle holders side by side.  I still need to remove the labels from the bottom... and get some candles to go in them. 

Bird Cage Tutorial



I saw a simiar project online and just had to recreate it.  I really like birdies this time of year.

First I cut 6 strips of printed paper measuring .5"x12"

Then I stacked all 6 strips on top on one another.  Using a ruler I found the center and punched a hole.  Then I used a brad to attach the strips together.



For the base I used the lid from a Nutella jar.  Althought I don't have any idea why, but I have had it saved for a while now and was so happy to finally utilize it.  Then I measured the rim of the lid so I could cut an additional strip to cover it.  Mine measured .75" x 12" (I didn't quite need 12" but it's always better to have more than not enough)



Next I addred Sticky Strip (or you can use another very strong adhesive) around the lid.
In the background you can see that I spread the strips to form a sunburst sort of a shape.



To assemble the cage I started attaching the strips to the adhesive on the lid, one by one.  Make sure to leave an opening so you can more easily add the spanish moss and your birdie inside the cage.

One of the things I would do differently next time is attach the bird to the inside of the cage before attaching the top to the base.  It would make things much easier.  What I did this time, was punch two bird shapes (using my awesome Stampin' UP! punch) and sandwiched a string between them.  I used a silver cord, but a clear thread would look more like the bird is flying.  Then I tied the other end of the cord to the base of the brad (on top on of the cage), so my bird hangs in the center. 

Then I attached the last of the top to the base and covered the bottom with the strip I precut earlier. 

I also added a few flowers to the cage for an extra little touch.

Here are the latest "birdie" projects I created.