It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...CRAFTING!

It snowed the other morning.

For me that means it's Christmas time.

So even though it only snowed for 3 minutes and it was mixed with rain and none of it stuck to the ground...it still snowed. And now it's Christmas time!!!

More specifically, it's Christmas CRAFTING time!! Here are some of my favorite Christmas crafts from years past to keep you busy while I stretch out my glitter coating, wreath making, snowflake cutting muscles. It's important to ease into these things lest you pull something and have to sit out the rest of the season.

D.I.Y. FIREPLACE UGLY CHRISTMAS SWEATER

UPCYCLED CATALOG CHRISTMAS TREE

KID-FRIENDLY DIY SNOWGLOBES

I'd love to see any projects you make following my tutorials or any projects you've made on your own!

Merry Christmas Crafting season!!

Geometrical Block Printed Planter Makeover

I made this beautiful block printed planter first thing this planting season and then forgot to share it. This essentially means it never happened at all and all of my priming and painting and sponge cutting was for not. So I'm posting it now, just in time for the end of planting season. Luckily, I think it's going to look just as lovely stuffed full of Mums and tall grasses as it looked chock full of petunias.

And the best part of this project? It was completely free!

It was super easy (and free!) and would make a great weekend project.

It took me about 4 hours start-to-finish including the time it took the paint to dry.

Here's how I made it...for FREE! (Did I mention this project didn't cost me anything?)

I took an old banged up pot that wasn't being used and gave it a good scrubbin'.
Then I sprayed the inside of the pot red with some paint I had on-hand; spray the inside first because there may be some over-spray
Then I primed the outside of the pot white and covered the over-spray
After that I gave the whole thing a coat of Cream colored paint and let it dry.

Cost so far: $0.00

While the paint was drying I made the stamp.

To make the stamp you'll need an old sponge, scissors, a Sharpie & a ruler
I used the ruler to measure out a 2" x 2" x 2" triangle
and drew it on the sponge with my marker
Then I cut along the lines and now I have my stamp...and it's still FREEEEE!

Now you should test your stamp to experiment with how much paint to use,

how hard to press down on it and to decide on the pattern you're going to use.

I used a piece of blue painter's tape to create a line to follow while I stamped.

This helped a little bit but it would be ok without it also.

I continued to stamp all the way around the planter,

moving my piece of tape to the next row as the paint dried.

Then I removed the tape and I had a perfectly printed, perfectly d.i.y.'d,

perfectly FREE brand spankin' new planter! And, I can't remember if

I told you this or not yet but it didn't cost me a thing!!

Rit Rooooo!! (that's a whistle noise)

I'd love to see your pictures if you decide to make one of your own.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a wonderful weekend!

Parenting Project #1: Homemade Baby Wipes

In honor of today being the first day of Spring, I thought we could start our Spring Cleaning by focusing the most important object in the house: the baby.

And more specifically- her bottom.

When my little Sadie Jean was a mere 1 week old she got the most hellacious diaper rash I've ever seen. (**it should be noted here that I've probably only seen 3-4 diaper rashes in real life but still, it was BAD!) So- I started asking around to my circle-of-Moms to find out what they use to cure them and more importantly- to prevent them and was handed down this awesome Do-It-Yourself Butt Wipe recipe from my friend Katherine, who's the mother of twin boys, and I'm happy to report that Sadie is now 12 weeks old and has remained diaper rash free! This is a big deal in my life. (Thank you Katherine!!)

So, without further ado, I give you the...

KATHERINE'S RECIPE FOR A HAPPY BABY BUTT

1 roll paper towel, cut in half
2C water
1/8C baby oil (that's 2 Tbls)
a squirt of baby wash (just a dab'll do ya)
5 drops tea tree oil (a natural antibacterial)
a rubbermaid container with a lid

To make these wipes, first cut a roll of papertowels in half.

(I use Viva because they feel the most like cloth)

Remove the inner cardboard tube and pull out the first square of papertowel.

Now mix your ingredients. I put mine in a seperate jar and then dump them over the papertowels while already in the Rubbermaid but you can do whatever you want. It's your party.

Swirl the ingredients gently to mix but don't shake them up or it will get all foamy and not soak into the papertowels right.

Put the half roll of papertowels into the Rubbermaid, pour the mixture of the entire roll and let sit for at least 15 minutes to get them completely wet and you're done! You've made your first batch of butt wipes. These are not only a nice way to cut down on the amount of chemicals being used to clean little Juniors rear end but they're also economical. For this roll of 88 wipes the total price was $.98!! You just can't beat that!!

Hopefully these work for you as well as they've worked for us!

Diaper rash free in one-three!!

$5 DIY Googley-eyed Fall Wreath Tutorial

I'm not sure what's happening to me but I felt an overwhelming urge to make an Autumn wreath this year. I've always been into decorating, and over-decorating, for the holidays but I usually keep it to giant fake spiders, severed hands and glittery skeletons. Your standard October stuff. So when I found myself shopping for a wreath making supplies, nobody was more surprised than me. It was as if I blacked out and woke up at the register with a wreath form and fake foliage in my hands.

So, I've accepted it, I like wreaths. There, I said it.

But that doesn't mean I have to make a button covered, gingham scarecrow country crafts with a giant bow type of wreath. I can like wreaths and still make them look like me. It doesn't mean I have to buy high waisted Mom jeans or run out and lease a mini-van. Not yet anyway.

So here is my tutorial on how to make a quick $5 Googley-Eyed Fall Wreath:

SUPPLIES (I got the $1 supplies from the dollar store)

$1 wreath form

$1 fall foliage x3

$1 5pk mini squashes

ball of twine (had on hand)

googley eyes (had on hand)

wire cutters (had 'em)

glue gun/glue sticks (had 'em)

To begin, start by tying the end of your twine to your wreath form and wrap the twine around the wreath for a space about 3" long. This is purely decorative.

Next, arrange your 3 bouquets of fall foliage and begin snipping them off of the main branch with your wire cutters. Arrange the new seperate pieces so that you have 2 equal bouquets (if you plan on making 2 wreaths...which I did because I have a double front door.)

Now begin adding the plastic foliage to your wreath just under the 3" band of twine. I used hot glue to keep the plants in place and then wrapped more twine around the base of each one- mostly because it looks cute but also to secure it in place.

When you reach the end add another 3" section of wrapped twine to finish it off. You can stop here and have a perfectly lovely Autumnal Wreath to hang on your front door but I feel like it's just too regular. It needs something.

In my case, that "something" almost always ends up being googley-eyes. Or "guurely eyes" as my niece calls them.

From the 5 pack of mini squashes I scooped at the dollar store, I grabbed a couple of 'em and gave them life. I am not unlike the good Dr. Frankenstein in this way.

Take your freshly googelied squashes and arrange them at the base of your fallin' foliage until you are satisfied and hot glue them into place.

**Note: my squashes are made of styrofoam which means they basically melt when the come in contact with hot glue. Turn your glue gun to the lowest setting if you have that option or put the glue on the wreath first and allow it to cool for about 3-4 seconds before placing your squash so that it doesn't turn into a puddle.**

And finally, add a twine hanger to the top of your wreath and hang with pride from your front door(s).

Together these wreaths cost me less than $10 and they can be left up through Halloween and all the way through to Thanksgiving. I hope you like them as much as I do.

happy fall!

trash to treasure: twine-wrapped planter

I accidentally broke my favorite purple pot (aka my only purple pot) and just couldn't bear to throw it out. I considered gluing it back together but some of the pieces shattered so there would be holes all over it and the dirt would fall out. Then I considered smashing it into little pieces and making some sort of mosaic out of it but then I remembered that I don't like mosaics. (No offense if that's your thing, it's just not for me.) I also thought about taking a bite out of it like the girls on that TV show but my heart's just not in it.

The only thing left was to fix it and figure out a way to cover the crack and make it super adorable- and I did just that.

Here's how:

For this project you will need the following items:

a broken pot (or lamp or decorative vase or a little trash can, etc)
twine
glue gun/glue sticks
epoxy

Start off by washing your broken pot in hot soapy water. **Careful to not burn and/or cut yourself!!** This will remove any oils or dirt from the pot and make the epoxy hold better.

Next, mix your epoxy and add a generous amount to the break in your pot. You should wear gloves during this and work in a well ventilated area, this stuff is smelly. Put your pieces back together.

**You can put globs of the epoxy on since the seam doesn't need to be beautiful because we'll be covering the whole thing with twine. Smear the extra epoxy around with a toothpick after putting the pieces back together to make a water-tight seal.

Now let your epoxy dry. Mine says it takes 7 minutes to set.

Now you're ready to start wrapping your newly fixed pot in twine. I turned my pot over and started from the bottom.

Begin by gluing the end of the twine to your pot and start wrapping, gluing the twine to the pot as you go.

I put a dot of hot glue about every 3-5" on the entire pot. This string's not going anywhere!!

When you're done wrapping, throw a plant in there and you now have a custom, hand-wrapped planter to wow your friends with. I'd recommend keeping this pot inside as rain or snow will get the string wet and it could possibly get moldy and gross. And we wouldn't want that.

Thanks for reading!

Giving in to Trends: Ombre Paint Chip Art

I spent a good portion of my teenage years rejecting all things trendy and popular. That habit has stuck with me now into my late 20's (ok, early 30's) whenever I see something adorable on another craft blog and/or everybody's favorite website, Pinterest. (See, I'm even trying to pretend like I don't totally love Pinterest.) Instead of happily jumping on the bandwagon and admitting that something is adorable, I dog ear it and come back later, trying not to make eye contact with it and acting like it's not so great.

Today I decided that it was time for me to make eye contact with paint chip art and I'm glad I did because it was a fun and easy project (not to mention practically free!) that only took about an hour to finish.

Here's how I did it:

First, go to your favorite paint store and grab some paint chip samples from the big wall of colors (or use different colored construction paper). I actually felt a little bad about taking so many so I asked the guy behind the counter if it was ok. He shrugged with complete indifference and I was guilt-free.

Next, find a small circular object to outline onto the paint chips to utilize as much of the colored area as possible- I used a small roll of tape- and cut out your circles.

Experiment with the layout of your circles until you have 'em just how you want 'em.

Prepare your frame- I got this white matted frame for $5.99 at the Christmas Tree Shop by my house- the frame has some dings in it but I'm writing them off as "shabby chic."

Remove the mat and backing from the frame and outline the opening of the mat directly onto the cardboard backing.

Now, starting and the bottom and beginning with the lightest layer, glue the circles to the cardboard using a glue stick. The second layer should overlap the first slightly and the circles should become progressively darker towards the top of the cardboard.

You only have to fill in the area inside of the outline we made but be sure to overlap the edges so that none of the backing shows.

To add a letter, take another paint chip in a coordinating color and draw your letter backwards on the BACKSIDE of it.

Cut out the letter, glue it into place wherever your little heart desires and presto- you're an artist.

I decided to let some of the lettering from the names of the paint show on my final product. It gives it extra home-made-i-ness.

Now you have a personalized gift to give as a new baby or shower present and no-one has to know about the ridiculous internal struggle that it took to make it.

Happy Friday!

Commuter Crafts: 30-minute Wrapped Earrings

I have almost all of my best ideas while r-u-n-n-i-n-g out of the door to catch the bus to get to work. (Usually at the exact moment I run out of time to actually do anything about it.)

Last week as I was throwing things in my bag in an effort to leave only 4 minutes after I was supposed to- it hit me, "I should make some custom earrings to wear with this outfit."

Of course! I'm 4 minutes late leaving to catch the bus that only comes once an hour, I ran out of time to make my lunch and already nixed that, my hair is a mess and I don't think I brushed my teeth but of course- of course there's time for custom earrings. Why wouldn't there be?

I grabbed some cheap silver hoops from my collection and embroidery floss from a friendship bracelet I was making for a friend and ran out the door to chase after my bus.

Once on the bus (I made it- with seconds to spare I might add) I set up my workspace on my lap and began to wrap the hoops with the embroidery floss. I chose salmon, beige and black for my colors.

Tie a knot with all 3 colors on the post side of your hoop (above) and begin wrapping the end of the string with your first color (below). Keep the floss held taught while wrapping to keep it uniform.

Switch colors and wrap with each color to create your design.

At the end, quadruple knot the floss, cut as close as possible and you're done!

In about a half an hour you've made some new earrings that you can now wear into work and give the impression that you are a grown-up who wakes early, puts together perfectly matched outfits complete with earrings and who doesn't leave the house cussing at your cat or wrestling with your jacket.

(No-one has to know what really happened this morning.)

Why don't you make me?: Three-Tiered Terra Cotta Planter

With limited space in my small city yard every inch counts so each Spring I am faced with a decision: do I want pretty flowers or a functioning vegetable garden? I envision myself having friends over for dinner and quickly running outside with my schears to an adorable, and lovingly attended to, little vegetable garden- I'd grab fresh herbs for the potatoes, pluck some peppers and lettuce for the salad and maybe bring in some grape tomatoes for my friends to snack on before dinner. They just love that. Then, after dinner we'd all get in my spaceship and go visit Unitron, the home of the last living unicorn. In other words, it's not going to happen.

What did happen however is this- a triple-decker half veggie/half flower tower of compromise. I'm taking baby steps to becoming the world's best hostess by growing only the greens to my future salads and I still have room for flowers!

Here's how I did it:

First, I invited Liz over who did everything. (This was an important step because Liz is wicked good at this stuff and because I have a cast on my right arm up to my elbow right now.)

Next, we took pots from the pot graveyard on the side of my house and selected 3 in decending sizes. (These don't have to match perfectly, as you can see.)

Pick a sunny spot in your garden to place the biggest pot- we nestled ours right into this Vinca Minor- and fill with soil until just below the top.

Add a small dowel or bamboo rod into the largest pot and thread themiddle pot onto it burying the pot about an inch into the soil of the largest pot.

Then trim the dowel until about 3-4" is showing to be inserted into the smallest pot.

Now have Liz thread the smallest pot right over the dowel and press into the dirt on the lower level burying it slightly. Great job Liz!

And finally, you are ready to plant your Garden of Compromise. Liz and I decided on some green lettuce, purple lettuce, white & purple flowers, 2 small cascading plants and topped the whole thing off with a ponytail fern.

Now we truly can have our garden...and eat it too.

Thanks Liz!! <3 <3 <3

Day 2: Craft Day!

It's Saturday, aka craft day! I decided to try my hand at the trash-to-trasure example from yesterday:

the recycled bottle cell phone charging station.

For this project you'll need the following supplies:

a bottle destined for the recycle bin
1/4 yard of scrap fabric
mod podge
X-acto knife
sandpaper
outlet cover
sharpie
paintbrush

To create this charging station, cut your plastic bottle in half, you're creating a small cup.

Cover this cup with your scrap fabric using your paintbrush and mod podge.

On the back of the cup, add a long piece of fabric to attach to he outlet cover. (seen below)

While that dries, cover the outlet cover with the same fabric. Follow my tutorial here.

Once both pieces are dry, cut the fabric extension into 3 pieces and cut out the middle piece- you'll be left with 2 strips on either side to adhere to the outlet cover.

Place the cover face down on a surface that is level with the cup and mod podge the pieces together, below.

Allow to dry, plug in your phone and you're done!

Day 2: Recycled Crafts for Kids

Teaching kids at a young age what it means to reduce-reuse-and-recycle is always something taught in school but to really drive the point home, it's important to incorporate those things into real life. Here are a couple of great crafts to do with kids to show them ways to recycle bottles into something fun and useful.

Ages 9+: Ashley over at Make-It-&-Love-It made this awesome cell phone caddy out of a lotion bottle. This craft would be great for older kids, especially those just getting their first cell phones or iPods.

Ages 5+: This awesome bowling set made by CreativeDish would be perfect for kids old enough to wield a glue gun and is a great way to keep 10 bottles out of a landfill!

Ages2+: And finally, check out this "lava lamp" made by Rainbows & Unicorns (great name by the way!) made with a plastic bottle, oil, water, food coloring and complete with sea creatures! This is a wonderful project for little ones- also consider throwing in some glitter or sequins!

Happy Friday!!!

Day 3: Plastic Bottles in the Garden

It's 3 days 'til Earth Day and 30-days into Spring so today on the 10WAYS/10DAYS countdown I'm taking it to the garden with 5 easy ways to repurpose plastic water bottles in your garden.

You can use plastic soda bottles to create a hanging garden like Recyclart did.

http://www.recyclart.org/2011/08/plastic-bottles-garden/

Or use bottles as a cloche to protect young seedlings from weather and help them grow.

http://garden.lovetoknow.com/vegetable-garden/winter-garden-vegetables-oregon

Another style of cloche from House and Gardening Addicts.

I love these clever self watering pots by Desperate Gardner.

http://www.desperategardener.com/2011/03/creative-containers.html

And finally, the automatic plant waterer by Practically Living.

I hope these ideas motivate you to reuse some things you already have...I'm off to dig in my recycle bin for inspiration right now!

Rockin' Out for Shelby

I painted these colorful rocks to my lil' cousin Shelby's 2nd birthday last weekend. They're a great way to teach kiddos to spell their name which, coincidentally, is every child's favorite word. These rocks were a huge hit with the grown ups but Shelby had her eye on something else...

My nephew Pete made Shelby a pet rock and blew my silly little alphabet rocks out of the water.

I was trumped by googly eyes. I shoulda seen it coming.

To make them we used acrylic paint on smooth river rocks and sealed them with a high shine acrylic sealer. You can make your own or contact me and I'll make some for you & you can just take credit for them. It's a win/win.

Nothing to Wear for St. Patrick's Day??

Oh no! You waited until the last possible second to figure out what you're going to wear for St. Patrick's Day?!? ME TOO!! Here are 2 quick options that you can throw together in either 20 minutes or in under 10 minutes.

**NOTE: These projects will probably require a quick trip to a craft store after work but never fear, Michael's is open until 9:00pm tonight so you should be all set.**

20 MINUTE OPTION: Light-up Shamrock Shirt

First- gather your supplies.

You'll need:

a t-shirt (preferrably green)
green pipe cleaners (about 17 stems)
battery powered light set (I used 2 sets)
glue gun
X-acto knife

Begin forming a shamrock by bending 2 pipe cleaners together for the outside of the shamrock and secure with hot glue to t-shirt.

(a piece of cardboard inside of the shirt creates a stiff work surface (that's what she said) and keeps the glue from going through to the back.)

Add a second and a third loop inside of the outer outline to fill it in a little and make it fancy.

Glue both of those loops to t-shirt with hot glue. Repeat 3 more times to create a 4-Leaf Clover.

Next, cut a series of small holes (as many holes as lights) along the inner rim of the outside of the shamrock's border. These holes are for the lights to poke through so they don't need to be very big. Just a tiny slit.

Poke the lights through the holes and secure with hot glue. Hold for about 10 seconds to let it set.

I only had enough lights to put 4 lights on each leaf.

And now you're done and you have a perfectly boring looking t-shirt with a not-so-great Shamrock hot glued on it. Great. Thanks a lot Mom. BUT WAIT!! Add a couple of AA batteries and VIOLA! YOU'RE THE LIFE OF THE PARTY!!

And you did it all in under 20 minutes!

Next...

UNDER 10 MINUTES: Mini Top Hat Headband

For this project you'll need:

a headband
a mini top hat (or a green bow or a cardboard clover, etc...)
green pipe cleaner x1
glue gun

I found this ridiculously miniature (and equally adorable) top hat at A.C.Moore yesterday on sale for $.50! If you can't find a mini top hat just look around for something else green and if you can't find anything, cut a clover out of cardboard and color it green with a marker and go to step 2.)

Step 2. Remove wire.

Step 3: This step is optional- I didn't like the green ribbon my hat had so I replaced it with a sparkly green pipe cleaner.

Step 4: Now, flip the hat over, add 2 dollops of hot glue to the brim and place your headband onto the hot glue wherever you want the hat positioned.

Step 5: Flip the head band back over and you have a brand new mini top hat headband.

Well aren't you adorable. Now go out and show off how crafty you are.

Here's to a long life and a merry one.
A quick death and an easy one.
A pretty girl and an honest one.
A cold pint-- and another one!

'Beannachtam na Feile Padraig!'

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Make Me: St. Patrick's Day Rainbow Cupcakes

It is said that every Leprechaun has a pot of gold, hidden deep in the Irish countryside. The most popular hiding place for this pot of gold is, of course, at the end of a rainbow.

These delicious little rainbows do not have pots of gold at the end of them but they do have icing on top of them and they are, thankfully, far less ellusive than real rainbows. They'd be a perfect addition to any St. Patrick's day celebration.

Here's how to make them.

First, collect your supplies, you'll need:

-yellow cake batter
-food coloring
-paper baking cups
-icing

Begin by preparing your cake batter according to your recipe.

Next, seperate the cake batter evenly into 6 containers.

Then dye each cup of batter a different color of the rainbow. I like to use Wilton gel food coloring, it makes beautiful, rich colors. I would highly recommend using them instead of the liquid food coloring from the grocery store.

Now begin layering batter into your prepared muffin tin purple first.

Then do the same with the blue...

And the green...

Slap on some yellow...

Add a dollop of orange...

And finally top it off with a spoonful of red.

Bake cupcakes according to recipe.

Remove from oven and let cool.

Once cooled, the outside of the cupcake will look like this. Meh, nothin' special.

But crack 'er open and you have a vibrant and delicious rainbow surprise!

My 4 year old nephew actually told me that his cupcake was "too beautiful to eat."

And then I died of acute cute overload.

You can also play around with the layering to make other cool creations-

Happy baking!

dry erase board by yours truly

Make Me: Upcycled Wrapping Paper Covered Light Switch

Due to a lackluster showing this winter from the Snow Gods my Spring Fever has kicked in earlier than normal this year. The fact that the sun is shining and there is no snow on the ground makes me want to sweep the porch, get out the plastic flamingos and fill every pot I own with flowers. Problem is, even though the sun is technically shining, it's still only about 40 degrees outside. Brrr. That's a little cold for flowers. So, while I wait for the weather to warm up outside, I decided to bring my Spring Fever inside this weekend and make this green leaf upcycled wrapping paper covered light switch.

For this project you will need:

a light switch cover
matte mod podge
a paintbrush
some leftover wrapping paper and/or tissue paper
the cutest miniature screwdriver I ever saw

To start, pick a light switch cover that needs a pick-me-up.

Look at this guy, he's completely let himself go.

Remove it from the wall with a tiny little screwdriver that is so cute!

A-hem, or just use a regular screwdriver. Wash the cover to get rid of oily fingerprints and dust.

Lay your cover on top of your chosen paper- I chose this wrapping paper that I've been ~~hoarding~~ saving for the perfect project since rescuing it from a present I received a couple years ago.

Cut around the cover leaving about 1/4"extra on all sides.

Wrapping paper works very well for this project because it is soft and bendable but remains sturdy even when wet with glue. Card stock is too stiff for this project and tissue paper can be difficult as it tears easily.

Cover the entire surface of the light plate with Mod Podge and lay the paper over the top, paint a layer of Mod Podge on the surface of the paper as well, smoothing out any air bubbles as you go.

Once dry, about 20 minutes, flip the cover face down on your surface, cut the corners with an X-acto knife and glue the paper around the corners like you're wrapping a present.

Add Mod Podge to both sides of the paper to make it pliable and secure the paper to the light plate.

Cut an 'X' into the backside of the paper where the light switch goes (this is much easier if the paper is completely dry if it is still wet, wait for it to dry or you may rip the paper), add Mod Podge to both sides of the 'X'd paper and glue down.

Allow to dry, about 15-20 minutes, if desired add another coat of Mod Podge to the entire front of the light switch to ensure it's fully sealed and you're done.

Grab your adorable little screw driver and put him back on the wall.

Muuuuch better.

Now there's nothing left to do but sit back and wait for Spring. Only four days until Daylight Savings- We're almost there!!

Why Don't You Make Me?: The Sew Free 10-Minute Sweater Makeover

I know this tutorial would have been more helpful yesterday morning but I didn't even have the idea until yesterday morning and then there were cupcakes to bake, cards to catalog and fascinators to fasten. Let's just call this post a jump start for next year. I'm so ahead of the game.

To make this sweater I took an existing boxy red cardigan that I never wear (due to boxiness), added $.69 worth of eyelet lace and in 10 minutes came out with something that I absolutely love!

(Plus, and this is just between me and you, I hot glued that shit on there.)

For this project you will need:

a sweater that could use some snazzing up
1 yard of eyelet lace
glue gun/glue stick
scissors
cutting mat or piece of cardboard
1-2 seemingly oblivious cats

Begin by cutting your yard of lace into 8 equal parts. The lace I'm using is an antique white eyelet lace I got for $.69, can't beat that. You can use whatever your little heart desires and/or whatever's on sale.

Be sure to get a second opinion on whether or not the parts are equal. It's best if your helper ignores you the entire time she's sitting on the project you're working on.

Now, slide an appropriately sized cutting board, piece of cardboard, some paper, etc inside of the sweater to keep from gluing the front to the back.

Lay out your lace to see how you'd like it to look. I like the standard tuxedo on the left side but ultimately decided to go with the more heart shaped configuration on the right.

Add a small amount of glue to only the band of the lace a little bit at a time and begin to glue the lace to your sweater.

**Make sure this is a sweater that you're ok with altering forever. Once dried this will not be removable.**

Glue down the top of the lace and then work your way down, adding glue as you go and secure the lace every inch or so into your desired shape.

Your ends will look like this when you're done, not very pretty.

Just trim off the excess lace with some scissors to make it look right.

And you're done.

In 10 minutes you've turned a plain old sweater that lives in the back of the closet into brand new custom tuxedo front cardigan that now get's it's very own hanger. This would also be a great idea for a tank top, a t-shirt or even a throw pillow. The possibilities are endless.

364 days left until next Valentine's day.
I'm so on top of things.

How to make a block printed Valentine post card

Second printing of the 'I think you're GREAT!' Valentine post card in red.

1.

2.

3.

Click HERE for more detailed instructions.

Make Me: DIY Pull Tab Valentine Card

Why Don't You Make Me?

D.I.Y. Interactive Pull-Tab

Valentine's Day Card/Decoration

1. Receive card

2. Pull Tab

3. Happy kid

Making this adorable, pull-tab Valentine's Card for my niece was so worth the little bit of extra effort it entailed. She was so excited to PULL HERE and see all the letters come out! Start-to-finish this card probably took me a little less than an hour.

Here's how to make your own:

First, gather your supplies:

1 piece red card stock

1 piece coral card stock

1 piece pink construction paper

hole punch/grommet smashin' machine

grommets

scissors

tape

Sharpie

embroidery floss

embroidery needle

To begin: seperate pink paper into 20 equal pieces and cut out.

Then write "HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!" giving each letter their own square.

Now cut red paper into rectangles about the size of a stick of gum.

Using your hole punch, make a hole on either side of each letter and on either side of the red strips of paper.

Use the red strips to connect the letters.

Lay a pink square on top of a red strip, align the holes, insert a grommet & squish using a grommet squisher.

Repeat until you've used all your letters and add a PULL tab on the left hand side in front of the 'H'.

Next, make the envelope using a pink piece of paper about 12"x14".

Fold in half lengthwise and begin to attach banner to card.

To strengthen the anchor-point I cut a piece of card stock and added a grommet.

Using a piece of string about 2" longer than the card, tie one end to the end of the banner.

Slip the other end of the string through the reinforced grommet, pull through and tape the string down on the backside of the card. I added a heart to make it pretty afterwards.

Now comes the most difficult part of this card, fold the letters on top of each other without getting them tangled so that they come easily out of the card via the PULL tab. Begin with the "y" and zig-zag the rest of the letters keeping the next letter on top until they all fit in the envelope. To get this right I had to fold and pull about 4 times. Trial and mulitple errors.

Then, using your red embroidery floss and embroidery needle, sew the envelope shut being careful not to sew any of the letters to the envelope!

The thread adds a cute decorative element and is actually much easier than gluing the envelope shut and risking getting any of the letters stuck in it. Remember to leave a space on the left hand side for the letters to come out.

happy crafting!

Shape Up With Pickles WEEK!!!

Jumpin' Jesus on a pogo stick! It's 'Shape Up With Pickles Week!' An entire week devoted to pickles!!!...aaaaaaand shaping up with them, whatever that means.

Here're some pickley treasures from the Etsy-Dot-Com Super Store:

And a print of Miss Pickles by this dude JimBob.....awwwww, hewwo Miss Pickles.
Miss Pickles print - 'The Original'

I'll be back when I have something relevant and pickle related to talk about. Please do the same.

Heart Shaped Love: A Valentine Marshmallow Tutorial

What better way to tell your little ones you love them this Valentine's Day than with these homemade heart-shaped marshmallows? Making marshmallows from scratch was way less difficult than I thought it was going to be. They can easily be prepared in under 30 minutes.

Step 1 To make marshmallows go over to Elizabeth LaBau's wonderful about.com marshmallow photo tutorial and follow the steps on Pages 1-6. Then, for Step 7 come back and see me. (Trust me, this is going to be much easier than trying to follow my directions.)

Step 7 Pour half of your marshmallow mixture onto half of your prepared baking sheet (we didn't use tinfoil cause we're rule breakers) and spread using a rubber spatula.

Step 8 Put a few drops of pink food coloring into the remaining half of the mixture and stir until it is a uniform pink.

Step 9 Pour the remaining mixture onto the other half of the sheet and spread out using a spatula.

OPTIONAL
Step 10 Coat marshmallow mixture with sprinkles!

Step 11 The recipe calls for the marshmallows to "sit out for several hours or overnight to fully set up." However, because we are horribly impatient and wanted to eat marshmallows NOW we just set ours outside in the snow for about a half an hour and they were fine.

Step 12 Using heart shaped cookie cutters (metal ones with sharp edges work best) begin cutting out your heart shapes.