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Showing posts with label ribbon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ribbon. Show all posts

DIY Letter to Santa Tree Ornament

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Ok, first things first. One of Amazon's daily deals today is a Silhouette Portrait for half price!!  Now back to our show.....
 



All couples argue, right?  Money, kids, in-laws...everyone has an issue that never seems to get resolved. Our issue?  Glitter. And there is never a more tense time in our household than during the Christmas holiday season when I am glitterfying everything that isn't walking and Jim is going to work look like a Bratz doll.


See, I love glitter. The more the better. Yes it gets around faster than a stomach flu in a kindergarten class but I don't mind. I love seeing everything sparkle, especially during Christmas. Jim, on the other hand, never learned to appreciate it. He really HATES it. And this is how I know he truly loves me because he puts up with it and he knows he'll never win this fight. Glitter will go on.

These cute little letters to Santa ornaments were so easy to make!

1. Tear white paper on either side to the width you'd like your ornament to be. I used two sizes, one about 3 inches and one about 6. You can tear your length to about 6 inches too.

2. Roll up your paper into a tube. I found rolling it around a pencil made it easier. Tie with a ribbon to hold the rolled paper together.

3. Dip easy end into glue and then sprinkle with super fine glitter. My color is platinum and it is a silver color with a tinge of gold.


4. Let dry.

5. Cut a little gift tag out of card stock. Using a metallic marker, write "To Santa" the tag and glue to the ribbon end.


6. Glue a sprig of evergreen (real or fake) to the paper roll under the ribbon if you wish.

So cute, right?  Kids could do these easily too.



And while Jim may not love glitter, he's stuck with it just like he's stuck with me! And I'm way tougher to get rid of than a little glitter.

Oh and don't forget that homemade pompoms make darling ornaments too if you need to plump up your tree!


Stay sparkly!
Jenny

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Burlap and Lace Fall Silverware Pockets

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I love burlap and lace together....don't you?  The sweet and rustic balance is easy to decorate with and can be used in fancy occasions or just for the every day.  These little burlap and lace silverware pockets give a soft but rustic vibe to fall tablescapes and entertaining!


They were very easy to stitch up using this pretty ribbon I found at the craft store and while I sewed these, you can easily glue them or use a glue gun.


Choose a ribbon that is at least 2 inches wide. If you have wired ribbon like I did just pull each wire out of the sides after you cut the ribbon. 

Cut two pieces of ribbon: long piece=7" and short piece=5 "




Layer the short piece over the long piece, both right sides facing up.  \Sew around the edges starting the top of the short piece, down, and back up the other side. I ran my stitch up just a little past the short one and back stitched a few times so the seams didn't open when people pulled out the silverware.


It took me about 3 minutes to sew 5 of these pockets. I keep them in a basket in our dining room and it makes it very easy for the girls to set the table for dinner!






I hope you like this little fall craft project!  If you need a cheap centerpiece for your fall tablescape you can get an idea from this other fall craft idea! 

Cheers!
Jenny

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Make The Easiest Pillow Ever!

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You all know about my intense love of pillows. I make them constantly and Molly is always complaining about the plethora of pillows around the house. But I can't stop myself!  When I see a pretty fabric, towel, napkin, whatever, I immediately think about how I can turn it into a pillow cover. So when I found some winter napkins at Target last year after the season for $2  a piece I knew they'd be mine and I knew they'd become a pillow cover!  


I'm in the process of sewing two very sparkly pop star dresses for the girls for Christmas and frankly, I'm a bit burned out on sewing. So these had to come together fast.  This is how I made the easiest pillow cover ever.

Iron 2 napkins.



Cut 6-4 inch long lengths of ribbon and pinned them along one edge of each napkin facing in, right sides together. Make sure your ribbons are the same on both napkins. I didn't measure but I did put them on top of each other to make sure the ribbons lined up.



Stitch along each ribbon edge so they were secure. You will do this on each napkin.


Right sides together and ribbons lining up, stitch along the three sides that do not have ribbons.


Clip the corners to get a nicer corner when you turn them right side out. 


Turn the pillow cover right side out and insert your pillow form.  Tie each ribbon into a double knot.


Done!  It took me 15 minutes.  And now I have a little winter glam in my living room!  Happy!


You can check out some of my other pillows too, if you are interested!


In other news, I tweaked my gallery wall. I didn't do major changes but I added some things and moved some other things around. I am growing it over time as I accumulate things that appeal to me. I like how it's evolving.  Ack, the pictures are terrible! Click here for the before image.



I am still trying to get some Christmas pics up on the ole blog. I am in the process of editing the pictures so we'll see if I get them up this week. Hopefully!




Cheers!
Jenny

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Last Minute Thanksgiving Table Decor

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This is a post and run type of post because I have to bake 3 dozen corn muffins for Molly's Thanksgiving feast at school (hi, Procrastination!  So nice to see you! Now scram!). But I wanted to show you what I whipped up at the last minute to jazz up our Thanksgiving table!  Nothing like waiting till the last minute, right?  So if you are behind on your Thanksgiving prep and still want to make the table look special, you can pull off these simple ideas in no time flat!



I used a blue and gold theme mostly because I had the blue burlap on hand. If you have any stash fabric that is remotely Thanksgiving-y get it out and use it up!  I made the runner by simply cutting a long length of burlap and fraying the sides. 




The place cards are squares of burlap onto which I hot glued a turkey cut from an old book. Then I used a marker to write the names. I used a gold marker first and it didn't show up as well so I went over it in black. That's why it looks funky. : )

The chargers were silver and I spray painted them gold. I also used a glitter spray paint to jazz up some little birds I had in my hoard. They were originally from the dollar store.


For a centerpiece, I used some leaves cut out of book pages and hot glued to a branch from my yard.  The little white pumpkins are from my fall/Halloween decorating. I just gathered them up from around the house and put them together in a cluster. Sometimes several of the same items grouped together gives a big impact!


A loop of ribbon hot glued to make a ring serves as a quick but fancy napkin ring. I had this glittery ribbon on hand but any pretty, thick ribbon will do!

So there you have some quick and easy ideas to add something new to your Thanksgiving table!  If you need more ideas, you can visit my Thanksgiving table round up!

Cheers!
Jenny

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Christmas/Winter Wreath

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I wanted to have a wreath that would be appropriate for Christmas but would also take me through most of winter, including Valentine's Day. I think I did it!  What do you think?


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Halloween T Shirt Pillow, Hurricane Sandy

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It's been a long few days. Thankfully, we escaped Sandy's wrath with little more than 10 hours without power and some downed or snapped trees. We are so lucky and grateful. In a quick drive around town today I saw homes with trees through the roof and downed wires everywhere.  I hope you find yourself safe and dry tonight.

A few weeks ago I was getting some of the girls' old clothes ready to sell or pack away and I came across the sweetest Halloween outfit, shirt and pants, that Molly wore when she was 12  months old. It was given to her by my friend and Molly looked so cute in it!  It was one of my favorite pieces of baby clothing for her.  Ellie never got a chance to wear it because their seasons and ages are way off.  So it was in great condition.

Well, I couldn't bear to get rid of it. I kept putting it in a box and then pulling it out again. How could I give it away?  Well, I didn't. I made it into a pillow by using fabric glue to glue it onto some felt and then finished it with some ribbon ruffles. I love it!











Here are some pictures of our backyard after Sandy came to visit. It's hard to see but mainly we have large branches and tops of some trees that we aren't sorry to lose because they were old.  My rock star husband was out literally all day with his chain saw taking care of business. Now we have neat and orderly piles according to debris type such as large branches, small branches, pine, etc. Which just shows you that opposites really do attract since I can't keep anything organized let alone the tree rubbish.







And I would like to gush a bit more about Jim right now. He took on the whole hurricane preparations himself since I hurt my back.

He:
  • climbed up on our roof multiple times to blow out the gutters of clogging leaves
  • rigged tarps in strageic areas around our foundation to keep the deluge away
  • added extra length to our downspouts for the same reason 
  • moved our entire basement of boxes and stored things into the center of the room in case we got seepage 
  • readied the generator
  • moved plants, furniture, etc. to the garage
  • and got together all the miscellaneous stuff like flashlights, batteries, water, etc. 
This is half of our basement and our stuff.

And he did all that while he prepared meals for us, changed diapers, put kids to bed, oh yeah, and worked a full time job.  And then today he cut wood like a boss.

I've said it before but I'll never stop saying it. Jim is the best person I know. He is so selfless and so supportive and I'm not sure he can ever really understand how grateful I am that he's here with me and going through this whole life thing together. He's a good friend to have and great person to love. I don't mention it here but I have a handicap from a car accident that prevents me from being completely normal and he doesn't care. He never makes me feel less or like I'm a burden. He is exactly the husband I needed and I believe God knew that.  This blog is a slice of my life, not just the DIY or crafting slice, but one of my family as well and so if I gush about Jim or the girls now and then I feel like it's ok to do it here!

Cheers!
Jenny

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Rosette Pumpkin Barrette

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I am crafty lately!  Look at what I made!  Some cute (and free!) rolled flower pumpkin barrettes!


I love browsing through Gymboree and looking at all their pretty seasonal hair accessories. I always think I'm going to splurge on something for Molly and Ellie but then I always reconsider. They refuse to keep cute things in their hair. Frankly, the only thing that they will consistently keep in their hair is maple syrup.

So instead of wasting money I decided to waste my time instead and whipped up some cute pumpkin barrettes made from the good old rolled flower rosette! I used scrap fabric and ribbon which is a bonus.

Here we go!  I know we've all seen the rosette tutorial before but here it is again for those that may have been living in an underground bunker for the past few years. Oh and for bunker friends, later we'll talk about tissue paper poofs.

I didn't want a lot of frayed edges so I hot glued a seam. I simply glued one raw side down and then the other.



Tie a knot on one end and begin rolling and twisting. Twist and roll and twist and roll. Spread a bunch of hot glue on a piece of felt and mash your rolled up rosette on top. Trim the edges of the felt off. In someone else's blog, the felt would be the same color as the flower. On this blog we're all lucky it isn't glued to an old pot holder.

Made a leave by accordion folding a scrap of green grosgrain ribbon. To keep the ribbon edges from fraying, lightly melt the edges with a match or candle. Anyway, hot glue the folds together on one end. Use a skewer to hold it together until it cools if need be. Glue onto the back of the pumpkin rosette.

Cut a small strip of brown grosgrain ribbon. Melt edges to prevent fraying and glue in place.
Glue the whole shebang onto an alligator clip. I did line my clip with some matching fabric so the glue wouldn't pull on their hair. Which was a waste of time because these barrettes have only touched hair for about 27 seconds.

And trying to take a picture of a toddler outside is about as easy as taking a picture of  Sasquatch and Elvis knitting a sweater.  So here are some cute pics of Ellie I jazzed up using Picmonkey. And trust me that the barrette is in her hair. Stuck to maple syrup no doubt.


I did not trim her bangs. Ok, I did. Like you couldn't tell. And like you've never done it. Riiiggggght.


Cheers!
Jenny

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