Mini Pennant (and Cake Bunting) Tutorial~

Didja catch that people? Huh? Didja? That's 2 tutorials for the price of 1!! Which is free. Yep. Free. Cuz I'm not charging ya for 'em. I'm generous like that.

Actually, the truth of the matter is that the steps are all the same until the very end, so it would be silly to post them as two separate tutorials, and I don't want to bore you all stiff. That said, I have seen this idea floating around blogland, so I'm not taking credit for it. I'm just showing you how I put mine together. In case you want to do the same thing some time.

Oh yeah, and please ignore my ratty cuticles and dry hands - I'm certainly no hand model, that's for sure. Eeks, but I need a manicure.

Okay, so where were we? Oh yeah...pennant tutorial. Here we go.

First up...how to make mini pennant flags.

Aren't they just the cutest little things??

Here's what you're gonna need:

1. A paper cutter (you don't really need one, but it makes the whole process simpler.)
2. Scrapbook paper that coordinates with your color scheme.
3. A ruler.
4. A pen or pencil.
5. Scissors.
6. Lollipop sticks.
7. Stick Glue.
8. String.


Step One: Measure and cut your paper in a strip that is twice as wide as the length of the pennant flag you're making. (In the case of the flags, I wanted them 2" long so I cut my paper to 4". For the bunting, I wanted each flag 1" long so I cut the paper into a 2" strip.)

Step Two: Using your ruler, measure and draw a line all the way down the center of the paper strip. For the 4" wide strip, draw it at 2" (for the bunting, draw it at 1"). Then mark every 2" all the way down the center (every 1" for the bunting). Along one of the sides - it doesn't matter which one - start marking at 1" and then every 2" after that. (On the bunting strip, start marking at 1/2" and then every 1" after that.) These will be your cutting guides.

Step 3: Now fold the paper in half lengthwise along the line you drew making sure that you can see the markings you made. Begin cutting from the folded side starting at the edge and cutting diagonally up to the first marking on the open side. Move to the next marking on the folded edge and cut back up to the same marking you just cut to on the open edge. This will make a triangle (a diamond when you unfold it).

For your next diamond, start at the same mark you just cut from on the folded edge, begin cutting again up to the next marking on the open edge. You will continue cutting in this manner making diamonds as you go. (You can discard or recycle the pieces that are just triangles).

Step 4: Open each diamond and cover with stick glue on the wrong side of the paper.

Step 5: Take a lollipop stick and place one end inside the fold of your glued diamond.

Step 6: Wrap the diamond around the lollipop stick to form a triangle. Press firmly to make sure it is well glued together. I like to press along the stick to make sure the paper wraps around it leaving no air holes.

Now you have a finished flag. Make several flags in coordinating papers and place inside a small vase of some sort. I used a creamer...I just filled it with macaroni noodles to hold the sticks in place. You could use anything from rice to floral foam. Whatever you have lying around. If you are using a clear container, try filling it with something festive like candy.





If you're making a cake bunting...all the steps are the same until you get to Step 5. Rather than wrapping the diamond around a lollipop stick, you will take 2 lollipop sticks (or dowels if you need the bunting to be taller) and tie some string between the two. The length of the string will depend on the width of your cake.

I like to have two rows of bunting, so I tie two strings...the bottom a little shorter than the top. I secure the knots with glue, so the strings won't slide up and down the sticks. Then simply wrap the glued diamonds around the strings. It will take several small diamonds to create one string of bunting. For the bunting pictured below which measure approximately 8" across, I used 15 diamonds...8 on the top, and 7 on the bottom.

I hope the tutorial made sense. I think I made it sound more complicated than it is. They sure are easy and CUTE!!

I'd love to see how yours turn out if you try them!!

Have a great day~

Linking to these great parties.

DIY Spa Birthday Party Invitations~

It's a big birthday for the Princess this year. She's turning 8! To celebrate we decided to throw a Spa party. We're going to have a whole gaggle of little girls over to be pampered...facial masks, painted nails, the works!


Of course, every great party starts with a great invitation. And since I was making the invitations anyway...the blogger in me decided to photograph the process so that I can give you all a tutorial on how to make cute Spa Birthday party invitations. You know, just in case you should ever be throwing a Spa party. ;-)

These invitations were adapted from some I found on Martha Stewart.com... because I believe in giving
credit where credit is due.

First up: The Supplies

You will need:

colored cardstock - now, I just happened upon some cute oval notecards at Target that I knew would make my life easier for this project. They were just the right size, in the right colors, and they included envelopes. So I bought two packages.

stick glue - my glue of choice when doing paper crafting.

scallop edge scissors

regular scissors

ribbon

Next: The Process:

1. The first thing I did was cut out a template. I should probably have done this using printer paper or something. But because I trust too much in my mad skills, I just started cutting one of the notecards. Then I ended up having to fold it in half to get it even, so I couldn't use it. Luckily, I had more cards than I needed, but HELLO?

2. Then I traced the template onto the other cards. You will trace as many as the number of invitations you are going to make. (makes sense, right?)

3. Cut out all the pieces you just traced. Since you probably wont be using notecards like I did, you will also want to cut rectangular pieces of cardstock in a coordinating color that are big enough to glue the cut pieces on and still have a border around the edge.

4. Now cut lengths of ribbon. I cut them long enough so that they could actually tie around a person's head. Of course you can cut them shorter if you so choose...just make sure that they are long enough to fit across the width of your sleepmask and still have ribbon dangling on both sides.

5. Using the stick glue, cover the back of your cut pieces entirely, then put a stripe of glue across the approximate center of your rectangle (remember I'm using the oval notecards...that's why there's no rectangle pictured). Lay the ribbon across the stripe of glue and then place the cut piece over the top.

6. Now using your scallop edge scissors, cut the rectangular piece to the same shape as the cut piece leaving approximately 1/4 inch showing.

7. Tie a card with the party details onto one of the strings.

8. Stuff your finished invitation into a cute envelope for delivery.

There you have it. Easy peasy Spa-themed invites. Enjoy!

linking to these parties:


Get Your Craft On Tuesday at Today's Creative Blog.

Easy Kiddo Silhouettes - A Tutorial~

Okay, okay. I know that silhouette tutorials are a dime a dozen on the interweb. And if I wasn't bringing a little something new to the table, I wouldn't bother you all with this. But I figured out a little something clever and I wanted to share. (If someone has already done this...please don't tell me. I like feeling clever.)

I needed some art for an awkward spot. Long and narrow. I have been mulling over what to do for some time, and finally settled on the idea of doing silhouettes of the kids. And because I wanted to use things I already have on hand, I decided to create the silhouettes out of adhesive vinyl. (And you don't need a cutting system to do this...just scissors!)

Here's what I did...


1. I took photos of each of my kiddos in profile. I took them in front of a window because the bright light from the window made the kids images darker and made their profiles easy to distinguish.

2. I carefully cut out each profile photo, and used the cut out as a template which I traced onto the paper backing of the vinyl.

Note: make sure that you reverse the image when you trace it onto the vinyl.

3. I then used scissors to cut out the vinyl along the lines I had traced.

4. Now here is where I think I am particularly clever. (Even more clever than choosing vinyl as my medium.) Rather than sticking the vinyl to paper...I stuck each onto the glass for the frame I was using. I used a credit card to carefully smooth out the bubbles.

Note: Whenever I see decent looking wood frames at the dollar store, I stock up on them. Then I have them on hand for projects or gifts etc. It's easy to simply spraypaint the wood to my desired color...in this case white.

5. Then I placed each piece of glass back in it's frame and put some pretty patterned paper in each. The great thing about this is that I can switch out the patterned paper and completely change the look! I also love the fact that sticking the silhouettes to the glass gives the finished piece a bit of a 3-D effect since the silhouette sits "above" the backing paper on top of the glass.

Here is where they are hanging...this is one of the project areas I am currently working on. Any guesses what this area is going to be?

Have a great day~

Linking to:

Faux Mercury Glass tutorial and a Last Minute Neighbor Gift Idea~

For my Christmas Mantel I decided to try my hand at making some faux mercury glass. Now, let me preface this by saying that there are many tutorials on the old www that can tell you how to do this. This is just my version, which as usual, is the lazy person's version. But it was super (and I stress SUPER) easy!

What you will need:

1. Glass containers of any configuration. (I went and bought a bunch of candle/votive holders at the dollar store.)

2. A water spraybottle (filled with actual water...shocking, I know.)

3. Silver metallic spraypaint. (I have also read that using mirror spraypaint works well...and in reality I think it would probably be better...I just happened to have some silver spraypaint on hand...and that's how I roll...)

Instructions:

1. I decided to spraypaint both the inside and outsides of my containers, so I didn't need to prep them any special way. If you want to use them as candle h0lders, I would suggest taping off the inside of the jars so you won't get any paint inside. Heat + Paint = Trouble.

2. Spritz both the outside and inside of each jar with water. I set my spraybottle on mist so that the water droplets are small in size. (This is what creates the aged look.) Some of the water will pool on the inside of the jar. Don't worry about this.

3. Immediately spray the inside and outside of each wet jar with your metallic (or mirror) spraypaint. Go over each with two to three light coats of paint. Remember mercury glass is supposed to look aged and imperfect, so you aren't going for complete coverage here.

4. Let the jars dry completely. As the water dries it will leave droplet marks and streaks which add to the mercury glass illusion.

ENJOY!

For a super easy neighbor gift, take your faux mercury glass vessel and add a bag full of goodies to the inside. Super easy and festive!

Oh, and on a last note...due to the fact that both Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve fall on Fridays this year, there will be no Frugal Friday linky parties for the next two weeks. I'm pretty sure you all will be too busy to miss it. ;-) But never fear all you frugalistas, Frugal Friday will resume as usual the second week of 2011.

Have a great day~

How to Make an Ornament Wreath~

Okay, kids. Here it is. My tutorial on how to make an ornament wreath.

I know that there were several tutorials floating around blogland last year. But, I kind of just flew by the seat of my pants when I made this one. So, I'm going to give you my version of how to make an ornament wreath.

It was really quite easy (that's how I roll)... so I hope you'll forgive my lack of step-by-step photos...

What you'll need...

• A wire hanger (I used a child size, coated white hanger)


• Pliers


• Ornaments (for the child size hanger, I used approximately 50 ornaments give or take)


• Pretty, wired ribbon


• Hot glue (this is optional and I actually didn't use any, but you may wish to - I'll tell you why in the instructions section.)

Instructions:

1. Take the wire hanger and unwind the top with your pliers. (If you use a coated hanger like I did, you will have to peel the coating back from the twisted top by carefully cutting it with a razor.)

2. Then use the pliers to straighten the hanger out as much as possible leaving only the hook at the top in tact.

3. Now reshape the hanger into a circle with the hook still at the top for hanging.

4. Thread the ornaments one at a time onto the hanger from the unhooked end. I alternated patterns to get a more even look. Push them all the way around the circle to the hooked side. This is where you may wish to use hot glue... occasionally the hanger at the top of the ornament will pull off as you thread them on...you may wish to secure it with hot glue. I didn't have this problem very much so I didn't use this step...but if you are using more costly or vintage ornaments this is probably a good idea.

5. Once they are threaded on, you may wish to move them around so they fill in all the spaces and create a nice full wreath.

6. Twist the straight end of the hanger back onto the hooked end.

7. Tie the wired ribbon onto the hanger at the hook to hide the twist and to pretti-fy your wreath. (I use wired ribbon because it is easy to shape the bow and have it retain said shape.)

8. I personally wouldn't try to hang this wreath outdoors...so hang it where you can admire it inside your house...I love it hanging over the mirror...more bling for your buck!

Happy Christmas Crafting Everybody!

I'm linking to the Christmas Craft party at Centsational Girl.

And make sure if you haven't had a chance to enter the Willow House giveaway, that you scroll down to yesterday's post and enter!

Pretty, Pleated Pillow: A Tutorial~

A little while ago I posted about the fact that I wanted to spruce up the Princess' bedroom. I started by changing out the wall behind her dresser and adding a canvas photo and some brown vinyl polka-dots. (The Princess had asked that we include brown in her room...and since we live in a rental home, painting was out of the question, so in came the polka-dots). Please disregard the desperately-in-need-of-a-makeover dresser...it's coming.



After adding the dots, I knew that I was going to have to find other ways to bring the brown color into her room.

I love pillows. In fact, I may just have a little bit of a pillow addiction problem. So I decided that adding some brown in the form of a pillow was a good idea. But I wanted the pillow to feel feminine as well. And since the other pillows on her bed have a good deal of pattern to them, I wanted it to be a solid color. And, oh yeah, I had to use what I already have on hand. (That's a pretty tall order, huh?)

Luckily, I had some brown velvet in my fabric stash, leftover from some projects in the boys' room in our old house. I also happened to have quite a bit of the brown wired ribbon that I used to "hang" the canvas photo on her polka-dot wall. So here is what I came up with.

A pretty, pleated pillow. Now, if you are a sewing perfectionist, I implore you to stop reading at this point. But if you believe that imperfections only make things better, I have a little tutorial for you. (And if you're neutral on the whole imperfections issue, you'll probably like the tutorial as well.)

What you'll need:

• Fabric (about 1/2 yard)


• A pillow form or polyfil...I usually like to stuff my pillows with polyfil, but in this case, I had an existing pillow that I was recovering, and it had an insert, so that's what I used.


• 2 1/2" wired ribbon


• Matching thread


• Pins
  
• Measuring tape

Instructions:

1. Start by cutting two squares of fabric about 1/2" larger all the way around than your pillow form. (In this case I was using a 14" pillow form, so I cut 15" squares)

2. Cut 5 lengths of ribbon approximately twice as long as the squares you just cut. I usually add another inch or two for good measure.

3. Pick the square that you would like to be the front of the pillow and measure one side (this will be the top of your pillow) to find the center. Pin the top of one piece of the ribbon in it's center at the center point of the pillow front.

4. Working from the center, pin each additional piece at the top, so that each piece is parallel with the piece next to it. (You will notice in the photo, that there are pins running parallel to one of the edge pieces. I use these as a guide on the first piece that I sew to make sure that I keep it straight. After the first piece is sewn, I then use it as a guide for the second piece, and so on.)

5. Begin sewing one of the edge pieces. Approximately every 2" fold the piece back on itself about 1/2" to create a pleat. Then continue sewing right over the pleat you've created. Continue to do this for the entire length of the ribbon. This is where being a perfectionist is discouraged. (Well, impossible, in my case.) I simply eyeball these pleats. They are by no means perfect. But once you get the hang of it, you can eyeball it pretty easily.

6. Continue this same process with each ribbon. The pleats do not need to line up with the pleats in the previous piece. In fact, the overall piece will look better if the pleats do not line up. (Trust me on this.)

7. Once you have finished sewing all the ribbon. Pin the right sides of both fabric pieces together and sew, leaving a 1/2" seam allowance. Make sure to leave one side about half way open so that you can slip your pillow form in.

8. Trim the edges, clip the corners and then turn the pillow right side out. Put the pillow form in the pillow and close with an invisible hand stitch.

That's it!

Here's the pillow on the Princess' bed...just the right touch!

My November thankful thought for today....I am thankful for some bloggy love on Ohdeedoh. My canning jar frames were featured on their fabulous website yesterday! Eeek!!

Have a great day~

A Pretty Pillow Tutorial~

It's finally here! This tutorial took me (much) longer than I thought it would. But I finally finished it, and I hope you'll all love this pretty cushion as much as I do.

Here she is in all her ruffled glory.

I've wanted to make a pillow like this for a very long time, but I wasn't sure what sort of fabric I wanted to use. Then as I was looking through my latest round of PB catalogs, I noticed that felt pillows were everywhere! And that's when my inspiration hit, and I decided to create this beauty out of felt. Yep. Felt. And since we're heading into winter, I thought that snow white felt would be the best fit. I call her "The Snowblossom Pillow".

To make a Snowblossom pillow of your own, you will need...

• 1 yard of felt
  
• matching thread and needle


• scissors


• tape measure


• polyfil


• patience...lots of patience

Instructions...

1. For a 16 x 16 pillow, cut two pieces of felt to 17" x 17" (to give yourself a 1/2" seam allowance)

2. Mark a square lightly with a pencil in the center of one square. (I made mine 6"x6")

3. Cut approximately 120 2"x2" squares from the felt (no need to measure these...you can eyeball it.)

4. Cut each square into a circle. These do not need to be perfect. I've found that cutting the squares and then rounding them into circles actually produces less fabric waste, but if you have a better way of cutting the circles out, then by all means, do it.

5. Fold a circle in half. (Please disregard the remains of my Halloween black fingernail polish...)

6. Then fold it in half again, and stitch the corner a couple of times to keep it in the triangle shape. Then sew the same corner to the base piece inside the square that you drew.

7. Continue this with the other 119 pieces, sewing them on at different angles to give the piece movement and flow.

8. Once you have finished applying all the circles, use a sewing machine to sew the front and back of the pillow together with the applied circles inside. Leave one corner open and then pull the fabric through to reverse it.

9. Stuff the pillow and sew the corner shut by hand.

That's it! You have a beautiful pillow!!

This pillow is actually intended for the bed in our master bedroom. I'll have to show you a photo of how it looks later because at the moment our comforter is being laundered. You see, sometime in the middle of the night, Mr. Three made his way into my bedroom, and climbed into bed with me. Early this morning, I heard a gagging sound. In my groggy state, I wasn't sure what I was listening to until it was too late. Mr. Three had the stomach flu, and my comforter paid the price. Luckily, I realized what was going on and jumped out of bed, grabbing him on the way. We made it to the master bathroom before round two hit, but the damage to the comforter was already done. Hence, the comforter in the wash. Too much information? Sorry, just keeping it real. Thus is life with toddlers. Now, I'm just hoping that his "bug" doesn't make its way through the rest of the family.

Okay, but sick toddlers aside, hope you enjoyed the tutorial. I decided to link up to the CSI challenge this week. Good luck for me that the challenge was on pillows this week, eh?

Have a great day~