Tag Archives: craft

Light Shines Bright

New Valentines!

Let your littles shine their light bright and share it with others with these fun, school-friendly valentines!

I used the square cards on Zazzle to design these valentines. They come in packs of 100, so it’s perfect if you have multiple kiddos to supply valentines for… or you could always go halfsies with a friend!

Valentine, Your Light Shines Bright!

What kid doesn’t love punching holes in paper?! Yours will be excited to help put their own valentines together – they get to write their name on the cards, punch the holes, and slide in the glow sticks!

I found a large tube of LumiStick glowing bracelets (many colors to choose from!) from Amazon – you can find them here.

Valentines by Stickelberry

The back side of the cards are solid black. You can use this space to write on with a gel pen or decorate with some fun washi tape.

Hope you can your kiddos enjoy sharing your light with others!

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Boo-tiful DIY

Fretting about a costume for your little witch? I have something you can whip up in less than an hour! 


Make a tutu and pair it with cat ears or an eye mask or a witch hat for the cutest little DIY costume on the block! It’s adorable and easy, and if you’re a scrap-a-holic like me, you might already have everything you need (fabric strips & elastic. Done and done.)


You can find the how-to on my previous post HERE 

Have a very Happy Halloween!! Share This! Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedintumblrmail

Placemat Wine Bottle Gift Bag

Placemat Wine Bottle Gift Bag

Because you needed another placemat tutorial. You were desperately looking for something else to make from all those gorgeous placemats you couldn’t pass up in the Target aisle. I got your back, friend.

Placemat Wine Bottle Gift BagThis is EASY! Perfect for beginners for a quick project, easy enough to do the day of giving, too (guilty!). Why present a wine gift to the host/hostess in a boring gift bag when you can MAKE one that is wayyyyyy cooler?

Find yourself a lovely placemat. The one I chose has a lining on the back, but don’t fret if yours doesn’t — it isn’t necessary. Just be sure to read the notes below.

Placemat Wine Bottle Gift BagFold your placemat in half lengthwise so the right sides are facing together.

Placemat Wine Bottle Gift BagMeasure in 3-6 inches, start there and sew back and forth a few times, then sew down the length, turn and sew down the short end, and sew back and forth again.

Placemat Wine Bottle Gift Bag

It should look like this when you’re done!

Placemat Wine Bottle Gift Bag

***Now take your scissors and cut off the fabric to the right of the seam you just made on the short end. NOTE: I did this because the existing seam was too thick with the lining. If your placemat isn’t lined, you won’t need to do this. I also forgot to take a picture. Woops. But you can see it in the next one.

Now, take your scissors and cut off the fabric to the right of the long seam you just made, just down at the bottom where it meets the short sewn end. This will just make it easier to put in the gusset on the bottom of the bag.

Placemat Wine Bottle Gift BagGrab the bottom of the bag and squeeze it! Placemat Wine Bottle Gift Bag

Squeeze from the folded side so the bottom pops out and use your fingers to fold over the corners toward the center. They will go in about an inch or so.

Placemat Wine Bottle Gift BagGet your needle & thread ready, and hand stitch those corners down.

Placemat Wine Bottle Gift BagDoesn’t have to be fancy. Clearly. They won’t see this so feel free to just wing it.

Placemat Wine Bottle Gift BagDo both sides so it looks like this!

Placemat Wine Bottle Gift BagTurn the bag right-side out. Isn’t she pretty?

Placemat Wine Bottle Gift BagDepending on the kind of ribbon you have, you may need to seal it so it doesn’t fray. Ever hear of this stuff?

Fray Check is AWESOME – I use it all the time. Perfect for ribbon ends & sealing off small bits that you don’t want to fray.

Placemat Wine Bottle Gift BagInsert bottle, tie a bow…

Placemat Wine Bottle Gift BagVOILA!

Placemat Wine Bottle Gift Bag

A thoughtful handmade gift to go with your pal’s favorite vino.

Enjoy! Hope your pal share’s her wine with you… :o)Share This! Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedintumblrmail

Unslump Thyself

Crib Bumpers

Custom Designed Baby Crib Bedding

You may have noticed a whole heck of a lot of pictures and projects going on in my neck of the woods if you’re following me in the social realm. I’m going through a creative explosion right now, and I’m enjoying the heck out of it. I am making the MOST out of naptime, people. #momlife

Truth be told, I was in a slump. A big one. Not so much in creativity but more like I was a hot mess — lacking motivation, having the hardest time with the whole work/life balance gig…a real poopy pants, as I like to say. When I don’t get to make, I am NOT a happy camper. inspiration

The problem I have is, I get so focused on making things that I let everything else slide…. my non-creative world falls to pieces. So I change my gears and focus on the house and other SAHM duties, and then I fall back into my poopy pants role.

It’s an endless roller coaster of emotional & creative turmoil.

But, the bottom line is I need to be creative. It’s just who I am. I’ve been waiting for something or someone to hit me in the back of the head and say, “snap out of it!” or “figure it out!”.

Then this beauty landed in my lap and did just that.

bigmagic

My “snap out of it and figure it out” friend

Elizabeth Gilbert hath saved me. She unslumped me. Bless her and all of her wonderfulness and brilliance, because I think she’s a pretty good person to be saved by. :o)

So that’s my secret.

Owl Baby Swaddle & Beanie

Owl Baby Swaddle & Beanie

That’s why you’re seeing all of these things coming out of my feeds, and why you’ll be seeing a bunch of new tutorials coming up soon (yay!).

I’m getting back in to my handmade business, adding a bunch of new product options and features (including taking custom orders!), and just planning to kick some creative ass. I’m going to embrace the creativity in me by scheduling time for it in my SAHM life, getting my butt up earlier, and staying positive about it.

 

If you’re looking for some inspiration…..permission to be creative…. motivation to get to work and make stuff….. or just confidence to TRY; this book WILL do those things for you.

Especially if you’re in a slump like I was — go unslump thyself as I did….and we can kick some creative ass together!  #fistbump

Get yours here in whatever format you prefer

More products of my unslumping:

 

*Affiliate Disclaimer: I am an Amazon affiliate and will receive a small bit of commission if you purchase through my links. But I did read the book and I did love it and I wouldn’t share it otherwise. No BS here, people.Share This! Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedintumblrmail

DIY Cloth Napkin Clutch

DIY Cloth Napkin Clutch

If you’ve been following me for a while, you KNOW I can’t pass up pretty fabric… even if it’s not really meant to be sewing fabric. But, pretty colors and patterns and textures are abundant these days in so many basic items that us creatives find inspiration everywhere, right? Yep.

So here we go with another gorgeous Target find!

DIY Cloth Napkin Clutch

These napkins have the most gorgeous print ever and I couldn’t pass them up. I recently got around to using ONE of them to make a super cute clutch that I gifted to my son’s awesome teacher, and I’m giddy to think that I still have THREE napkins left to play with — YAY!

Oh and by the way, whilst visiting my store the other day I noticed that they now have the matching placemats too…so you could also make a clutch like this one here!

Supplies:

  • 2 Cloth napkins – mine are about 19.5″ square
  • Interfacing – I used a stiff one, cut to 9×19″
  • Ribbon or bias tape – mine was cut to 29″ but it depends on how you want to use it. If you want the decorative detail like mine that runs up and down the whole clutch, cut it to 29″ — if you just want it to tie off the button, cut it to 13″
  • A great button – in my opinion, the bigger the better!
  • Pins, thread, scissors…
  1. Fold napkin in half, insert your ribbon or bias-tape in between the two layers and pin it closed. I put the open end of the bias-tape facing out, and left a long 10″ tail. I did this just for appearance, there is no value other than it’s a cute detail. You can leave this part out if you want and just sew the two edges of the napkin together without the ribbon/bias-tape, but you’ll need to shorter piece of ribbon for the closure.

    DIY Cloth Napkin Clutch

    Fold napkin in half, insert ribbon/bias-tape if using, and pin closed

    DIY Cloth Napkin Clutch

    Fabric sandwich – napkin edge, bias-tape, napkin edge

    DIY Cloth Napkin Clutch

    Leave a long tail – mine was 10″

  2. Sew down the length of the pinned edge, going back and forth a few times at each end to tie off the thread. Be sure you’re catching the ribbon/bias-tape in your stitch if you’re using it, and continue to sew all the way down it’s length or it will open up on you.

    DIY Cloth Napkin Clutch

    If using bias-tape sew all the way down the length of the tail

  3. Open your new tube of a napkin and lay it out so that the seam you just made is in the center — you can press the fabric to keep it steady.

    DIY Cloth Napkin Clutch

    Open the new napkin tube and shift it to lay flat with the seam in the center

    DIY Cloth Napkin Clutch

    Seam in center of new napkin tube

    DIY Cloth Napkin Clutch

    I just love this detail!

  4. Insert your interfacing! It should fit nicely in between the two layers of fabric. Go press again, following the instructions of the interfacing (or not, whatever – you’re going to sew it in place and it’s just for structure).

    DIY Cloth Napkin Clutch

    Insert interfacing

  5. Sew along the bottom edge, sewing the tube shut, catching the interfacing in your stitch.

    DIY Cloth Napkin Clutch

    Sew along bottom edge, making sure to catch the interfacing

  6. Sew along the top as well — BUT if you’re using a short piece of ribbon or bias-tape, this is where you’ll insert it in the center of the edge and sew it in place. If you did it like mine, it will already be there and you’ll need to either sew over the top of it or sew up to the sides of it depending on your preference.

    DIY Cloth Napkin Clutch

    Sew along the top edge – add ribbon if you haven’t already

  7. Now fold your clutch. Place it face down (ribbon/bias-tape detail down) and fold up from the bottom to where you like it, pin in place, and then fold the top down. You can play with it a bit to get the right spot. Once you have it, PRESS!

    DIY Cloth Napkin Clutch

    Lay detail face down,Fold and pin the bottom half up

  8. Take the clutch back to the machine, lift up the top flap and sew up the bottom side edges just to where the pocket fabric ends. Be sure to go back and forth a few times to ecure and close the stitch.

    DIY Cloth Napkin Clutch

    Sew up the bottom side edges

  9. Now hand-sew your button on the bottom portion of the clutch. Tie a knot in your bias-tape or ribbon, or seal it with some fray check.

    DIY Cloth Napkin Clutch

    Sew on button, knot the tail

  10. Ta Daaaaaaa! DIY Cloth Napkin Clutch
  11. ***I later went back and added some decorative stitching in another color thread just for fun, but didn’t get a good picture of it (of course) — you can kind of see it here, I did it on the top and bottom edges. DIY Cloth Napkin Clutch

Affiliate Disclaimer: You know how much I love Target – that’s WHY I am an affiliate, I’m happy to promote their awesome stuff. If you buy anything online using my links, I’ll get a few pennies! ;)Share This! Facebooktwitterredditpinterestlinkedintumblrmail