Followers

Monday, January 31, 2011

Swap Followings


I was kindly invited by Homemaker on a Dime to join her Swap Followings Linky party, so I thought I would try it out.  Welcome to all those who follow my blog due to that party and here are the blogs that I am following and why:

Seconds From Crazy - I always love to follow the musings of another homeschooler!
Purple Paisley Pinwheels - Love her photos and craft projects!
Pocket Full of Posies - Wonderful Scrapbooking ideas!
My Creative Escapes - Love the craft ideas and the name of her blog!

Friday, January 28, 2011

Kid's Heart Tutorial

This craft came about because my daughter was making a rosette heart, and between the two of us, we cut the tissue wrong, so instead of wasting the paper, I did a craft with my younger kids.  I thought I would do a Tutorial for you!  Here are the materials you will need.
  • Tissue Paper
  • Cardboard
  • Paper Plate
  • Glue
  • Pen
  • Pencil
  • Scissors
  • Heart Shape (I used Creative Memories' Custom Cutting System for the shape.)

Here's how you make it:
  1. Cut up the tissue paper into squares about 1 1/2" x 1 1/2".  This isn't exact, just eyeball it.  If you have an older child, you might let them do this themselves.
  2.  Make your heart shape.  I was worried that I wouldn't get the sides even if I free handed this, so I just used these shapes real quick to make them the same.
  3. I traced a smaller and the bigger heart out on the cardboard.
  4.  Here it is all cut out.  As you can see it doesn't really matter how specific it is, because the cardboard won't show at all.
  5. Here's the fun part for the kids, put some glue on a paper plate.
  6. Fold a square over the end of a pencil and stick it in the glue.
  7. Then stick them all over one side of the heart.  The more the better!
  8. Glue a piece of ribbon on the back to hang when the whole heart is covered with papers.

The finished heart made by a 6-year-old!
I saw somewhere on the blogs an old screen hanging above the toilet for decoration and went right out to my pile of windows and screens I have been saving for a project.  I've been looking for something to add to it because it just looks too plain!  What do you think?   I got decorations, the kids got a homeschool project, and they got something ready for the fair this summer!  All for free!


Don't forget to check out all the blogs that I love to link this project up to on the right bar.

Monday, January 24, 2011

Rosette Addiction

I may truly be an addict for making these rosettes, well, and I'd like to make some extra money too!  I haven't made any for awhile, but as I look back at the pictures, I can't help but love each one of them all over.  Almost like children really, because they each have their own personality!Here is a long barrette that I made with three different rosettes on it.

Another barrette with three rosettes on it.  Wouldn't this one be cute for Valentine's?  I added a little jewel heart.

More Valentine's fair.  I made the right one with some pearl beads and lace.  (Can you believe I have this lace leftover from my wedding 16 years ago?)


A zipper pin with some ribbon leaves.  The button in the middle is vintage.

I gathered bow for a little girl.  Lace and ribbon make this one feminine.

This one is a little more fluffy.  I suddenly started cutting wider strips for my flowers.  I don't know if I like them as much, but again, they are different.  This is the same material as the first one with three rosettes on it.  Can you believe that the material can really look that different?

I think that this is one of my favorites.  I really love the colors and then I put a little purple tulle on the back to add to it.

Hopefully these will sell.  A good friend is helping me sell them.  Don't forget to check out the Blogs that I love to link up to on the right column.

Friday, January 21, 2011

Money Saving Class in Sparta

I am having a Money Saving Class here in Sparta, WI on Saturday, January 22 at 10am at Gospel Baptist Church, next to Wal-mart on Hwy. 16.  This class will teach you how to save money locally and where to find the good deals.  The cost is $10 per household.  Please comment below with your email if your are intersted or contact me by clicking the sidebar.

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Great Deal for Amazon!

Hey!


Check out this awesome deal I found for Amazon.com Gift Card



Use this Link!



The deal is only available for 8 more hours, so check it out and get in while you still have the chance!

Valentine's Specimen Art

I have been seeing every one's specimen artwork on the blogs, so I had to copy it.  I gathered my supplies, which I had all of it on hand.I got out my folder of pink scraps of paper, my Tape Runner, Heart Maker, Foam Squares and a piece of white paper.  If you are interested in these, please visit my website on the right bar for Creative Memories.

Here's what I made.  What a cheap way to do just a little decorating around the house.  Oh - I was able to use my Christmas candle for my little vignette for Valentine's Day.  That other heart, I'll be posting on soon.

Well, then I had an inspiration from the heart picture and decided to make some Valentine's Cards for my Etsy Shop.  I used the same concept, except I only raised the bottom heart between the "I" and "U".

All together I got 3 different cards completed.  I think they turned out really cute!

Be sure to check out the blogs that I link up to in the right column.  They are my favorites!

Don't forget to check my right side bar for the lovely parties I love to link up to!

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Five More Burp Rags

I'm not real sure why I enjoy making these burp rags, but I made five more of them yesterday.  I think these turned out really cute.  I wanted to make two of them for a baby gift (I know, another one!) and figured I'd cut up the rest of the material and make some to put in my Shop.I had just a small section of this fabric, so to work with what I had, a put together a light blue on the bottom third of the cloth. 

Here's the little girl frog that I made.  In my shop, I made two of these in the set.

The set includes a boy swimming for one of them.  I made one each of the girl and boy for the gift.

I used terry cloth with this set.  Two of the set have white terry and one has grey (just what I had on hand, and both look good with them.)  I am finding that the white terry cloth that you buy by the bolt at Wal-mart is a lot thinner than what you get if you buy a towel.  So I am going to try using the towels, because I think they will last longer and be better quality.  I looked at Goodwill today at some brand new towels and they were selling them for $6 a piece!  I'm going to have to keep my eye out, as that's not really a great price for material!

 Across the seem and used decorative stitching to attach the yellow looped ribbon.  I think it really ties everything together.

Please let me know what you think.  I priced them at $13.50.  I have such a problem pricing things, so I would love to hear your input on this.  I've looked at a lot of people's things, but can't really decide!

Friday, January 14, 2011

Hairpieces For Sale

All of the Hairpieces I Made
Well, as promised, I wanted to share the hairpieces that I was making.  A friend of mine at church asked if I could make her a bunch so that she could sell them at her work and at her jewelry shows this month.  It seemed easy in theory, but then I didn't know exactly what people wanted.  There are so many ways that you can make these rosettes, that it was hard to decide.

This is a large rosette that I attached to a large hair band.  I love wearing these over my ponytails.  I used a piece of felt over the pony to keep it in place with hot glue.

This is one of those larger barrettes with 3 rosettes on it.  I showed a couple of friends at church before passing this on to the lady who wanted them, and it sold immediately.

I love this one.  I attached it to a bobby pin.  I chose to use the regular bobby pins because the craft ones don't work as well and well as the alligator clips seem to slip out of my hair.

I think this one turned out really cute.  I made the little bow to go on it.

I used some leftover chiffon from an Easter dress I made my daughter one year.  (I will never sew that stuff again - it really needed a serger for the seams.)  I added some green ribbon for the leaves and an antique button on the center.  This one sold right away!

This is a rosette that gathered to make with some lace.

A couple more bobby pins.  The left is a floral print with sequins in the center.  And the right one is a zipper off a sweatshirt that I used for the first black rosette!  i thought it turned out pretty cute!

I've been selling these quicker than I can make them.  I intend on getting some up on my Etsy shop too, so stay tuned!  let me know what you think!

Thursday, January 13, 2011

21 Days of Getting Organized: I'm Behind!

I think that I have only lasted a couple of days on this 21 Days to Getting Organized!  I started out late, and now I am getting more behind!  I am just so busy with a newborn and 4 other kids (3 of which I am homeschooling), that I am finding several of these to be very challenging.  It seems that I can only do a little at a time!  Well this is Day #8: The Coat Closet Challenge.  

Here's my confession:  I didn't get this one done on that day, but I did the next day, Day #9.  I also started Day #9: Toy Organization, but got really overwhelmed and had to go to bed!  So, I am sharing with you today, Day #8 - The Coat Closet and have the Toys on the back burner for now (I hope to get that done soon though!)
The dreaded floor of the Coat Closet!
Boy isn't that terrible?  We actually clean this up about once a month!  It's a dumping ground that no one sees!
The coats don't look too bad, but look at that stuff that has been thrown up there on top of my boxes to just get rid of things.  Yes, Mr. Right and I had a big fight about that one!  It happens to be his sweatshirts that always fall off the hanger and end up on the floor.  So instead of hanging them, he throws them on top for storage.  It grates my nerves! To get to the bottom of the problem, we basically had too many things hung up on the rod, so they would get knocked off when we went to find our coats.

Another issue with this closet: all those coats belong to Mr. Right and myself, only!  We have a hook hang-up for the little kids coats, but we have two older kids that have to run their coats to the basement to put them in their own closets!

A closer look at that stash up there.  I started using these paper boxes about a  year ago for overstock of Health & Beauty and Air Fresheners that I stock up on.  I love it because they are out of the way, but I can tell exactly what is in the box and they are uniform.

I almost forgot the door, but I like these door hangers for all the gloves and hats.  This can really only be used for adults, because the kids rip them.  See that pocket on the third row up on the left?  That's what happens.
After of the Upper Closet


I left those boxes up there because they work. I just put them back how they were supposed to be.  I did find a new, free storage container!  Ice cream pails that are square.  They have three sides that are blank and work great for storing things because they are square and have lids!  That one up on the shelf has all the dog stuff that was just thrown up there.

Now Mr. Right has only 3 coats and I have one in there!  The spring coats went to our closets and we got rid of quite a few!  We let our older kids move in their coats with a limit of 2 coats each. 
You can actually see the floor now!  There are two garbage cans that have the recyclables in them, we bag ours up, so this works.  The small can with a green lid is the dog food.  This is the only closet for  vacuum and the floor cleaner.  That stack of ice cream pails are the kids candy.  I know seems excessive, but they have gum (sugar free), candy that lasts forever because they get one piece after each meal and also, jerky (don't ask, the boys love that stuff and will eat it instead of candy!)  This way, they have a marked container and it's not cluttering my kitchen!

Finally, the door.  Do you see that pocket on the door?  I sewed it back in place!!!  I really didn't think it would work that well, but it did.

The best thing about this make over for me was when Mr. Right opened the closet to go to work and said "This is gorgeous!"  Worth the whole argument we had over it, I think!  (Don't worry, we kissed and made up!)

Sunday, January 9, 2011

I've been busy!

Besides trying to organize my house in the 21 Days to Getting Organized over at A Bowl Full of Lemons  (check that out here and here for my organizing so far!) I have been very busy trying to get things made to put up in my new Etsy Shop.  I made some baby leg warmers out of some adult knee highs.
I think they turned out great!  I just love these on my 5 month old, because I know that her legs are staying warm and I don't have to take everything off to change her diaper.  I also had my 4 year old try it on to see how they fit and they worked on her wonderfully!  They are really going to last a long time for sure!

The other things that I have been working on for some ladies at church are some hair pieces and pins.  I'll share some of those later this week.

21 Days to Get Organized: Day 7: Pantry

Well, this one I thought was going to be easy since I go through my pantry and straighten it out after everyone about every other week.  In reality, this turned out a to be quite the mess!  Who knew that such a small space could be so much work.  So here are the befores:

Wow! How does all this happen?

I can't believe some of the junk that was down there!  It seems that some of the things that should have been going out to the garbage went in here!
 So here is the clean and revised pantry.  Sorry for the bad pictures, but really, this pantry is so small I can hardly get it in the picture, let alone get all my food in it.  I guess that is why it is even more important for me to keep it organized, so I can use it to the most capacity.
I love all the neat rows; meats, tomatoes, mushrooms, chili makings, beans, evaporated milk, cream of mushroom soup and cream of chicken soup.  I look like a regular Aldi's!

The top shelf is for canned goods the bottom is for baking supplies.  I tend to stock up when things are on sale and I have coupons.  I don't like to go to Aldi's, so when I go, I stock up on the things we use on a regular basis like the mushrooms, cream soups, green beans, and evaporated milk.

Here's that bottom section.  Yes, I know that I have a weird obsession with ice cream pails, but really, they work for everything!  I also got a bonus out of this project!  I was thinking while scrubbing the floor that we had a door rack around that we got somewhere that might fit on this pantry door!  Lo and behold, my Mr. Right even put it right up for me.

Look at all that extra storage space!  I am so excited to have this done!