Category Archives: Fabric {My “Crafty” Side}

Mod Podge Monday

This morning I headed to Wal-mart at 8am to pick up some Mod Podge. I hadn’t ever heard of this stuff until I started reading blogs. It seemed like an easy enough craft since I would put my crafty skill level at about a 2…

I needed a couple birthday gifts for Holden’s darling little twin classmates. Last week I got a $10 off coupon at Kohl’s and put it to use this weekend. I am embarrassed to say how much I paid for these gifts so I will let you do the math…

These cute jewelry boxes were 80% off $30…go on, practice your mathematical skills. I bought 2 and used my $10 off coupon.

Ridiculously inexpensive, right?

I wanted to personalize them and was going to do it with a paint pen, but that made me nervous. Then I remembered that the Dollar Tree had some letter stickers that I thought would be perfect and match the colors of the jewelry box. I picked those up…again, 2 X $1 = cheap!

I stuck the stickers on the tops of the boxes and wanted to secure or seal them a little so this is where the Mod Podge comes in.

I think they’re just darling and the perfect gift for a couple sweet 4 years olds.

Five minute gifts for under $5.

I wish the letters were a bit smaller {or the girls’ names were shorter. Ha!} so I wouldn’t of had to overlap them as much…

Now I’m not that cheap, so I’ll be picking up a little something else too, but I love the way I stretched my dollar.

And, I look forward to seeing what else I can Mod Podge!

Happy Monday!

I Had No Idea What I Was Doing

My sweet little fireman in training turns FOUR mañana.

I’ve wanted to make him a special shirt for his party. I shopped for all the materials at Joann’s {after asking MANY questions} and just settled on a shirt today.

We made a quick Target run this morning and I found a long-sleeved black crew neck shirt on the clearance rack…surprise, I know. I never shop clearance! Anyhoo, I held it up and he immediately said, “That shirt is for ‘El-yit’…that’s a girl’s shirt!” You know what, I think he’s right, but we slipped it on and the {slim} fit is in, no?

I have been dreading this project because I am a heat n bond virgin, but I took the bull by the horns and traced and cut out a “4” on a piece of printer paper. I then took a piece of heat n bond and some flame fabric and pinned the 3 pieces together —> the printer paper, heat n bond and the fabric. I HAD NO IDEA WHAT I WAS DOING. I cut that out. Then I carefully followed the directions on the package and set my iron to medium and went to town.

This is what I ended up with:

Not too shabby, eh?

In my mind the fabric was more red & orange ~ I thought it was going to stand out more on a black shirt. It just so happened that part of the outside of the “4” is black and it blends in with the shirt…thinking about getting some orange or red thread and doing a little hand stitching around the edge to make it stand out more. If there’s time….ha!

I’m pretty proud of myself. Not going to win any blue ribbon at the county fair, but I think it deserves an honorable mention.

It was SO easy.

Maybe the Dr. Seuss tie shirt won’t be so bad to whip up after all….

Apparently {Not} Sew

I want to make Holden a little tee for his birthday with a big “4” sewn or appliqued {fancy sewing term} on the front with some cute fabric.

Like this, but without the name…

{via}

I like the simplicity of this one….

{via}

Those stitches are even hand done maybe, no?

*****

I mentioned this to Elliott the other day and she immediately responded with a resounding, “But you don’t know how to sew!”

She’s right.

But I didn’t think I knew how to make rosettes either.

Off to Google a tutorial and find my Joann’s coupon.

Happy {Superbowl} Sunday!

Thrifty Thursday ~ Simple, Inexpensive, Homespun Birthday Invites

I’ve mentioned this before…you can spend LOTS on invitations.

I refuse to do that anymore. Personally, I also refuse to use evite. I think evite is genius and I’m all for being more {green}, but I prefer and enjoy coming up with cheap, crafty invites for my kids’ birthday parties. I love the idea of a hand or snail mail delivered invitation. I guess I’m sort of old-fashioned that way…

This year for Holden’s party I found some blank note cards at Michael’s for 50¢ a pack {8 cards/package}. I chose these specifically because of the red envelopes ~ so much better than plain, boring white!

The cards had a small graphic printed on the bottom right corner so I just made a {flame} template out of cardboard, cut it out, traced several flames on some orange construction paper, cut those out, used Elmer’s glue and some red & gold glitter and voila! It covered the picture perfectly. I chose a font we already had {cracked}, formatted it, came up with the wording and popped them through our printer.

I picked up some fire truck stickers at Target for 99¢ in the scrapbook area and added one to the inside of the invite and also to the front of the envelopes.

I addressed them “Firefighter so-and-so” and put the return address for the ones I mailed as “Fire Chief Holden”.

I calculated the cost of these invitations as less than 25¢ apiece.

We hand delivered most of them to save on postage, too!

Wanna Trade?

I’ll trade you some flip flops for some water.

Water.

The Earth is about 71% water.

Our bodies are comprised of up to 70% water.

Our faucets spill water for us to do our dishes, wash our hands, bathe our children, BUT….

…to many {to WAY too many}, WATER is HARD to come by.

For my 40th birthday, I donated $40 to help build a well.

Last year a group of my favorite blogging mamas made it possible to build not one, but TWO wells. You can read all about their amazingness here.

This year I’m joining Project 320 and giving away 2 darling pairs of embellished Havaianas and they could be yours.

Giveaway #1:

{Festive Gold Havaianas with reddish-orange flower embellishment ~ US size 7/8 Havaianas size 39-40}

Giveaway #2:

{Black Havaianas with silver flower embellishment ~ US size 4/5 Havaianas size 35-36}

All you have to do is donate here.

Each $10 donation is worth ONE entry into a drawing. $50 = 5 entries. $100 = 10 entries. Etc.

Then come back here and leave a comment. {Please be sure to include which giveaway you’re entering and your e-mail info}

There are also LOTS of other fun giveaways…you can find them here!

Comments will stay open until midnight pacific time on Sunday, December 19th.

Winners will be randomly chosen and announced on Monday, December 20th!

Your gift will put smiles on many faces.

{And just may put some cute Havs on your feet!}

**As a bonus, I will include a festive frayed rolled rosette pin to adorn your favorite tank, sweater, scarf, hat or handbag!**

Many thanks and Merry Christmas!

Crafting Myself Up

I’m literally cracking myself up lately with my newfound wanna-be crafty side.

I am a regular at JoAnn’s and have gone through more glue sticks than I care to count.

But, it’s been so much fun…and so easy. I’ve just been experimenting…last night I cut up a little burlap bag that my Mom left {sorry Mom!} and made my wreath:

I {just barely} had enough burlap to cover the floral wreath, but we made it. I had the ribbon on a Costco roll that has been going on for eons. I think the rosettes and ribbon all kind of coordinate, right? Then I picked up this glittery tree in the Target $1 section this morning as I think it needed a little more somethin’ somethin’. The clothespin is holding the ornament in place for now, but I’m not sure I like it….

So, there you have it.

Thanks Jen for inspiring me to work with burlap. I love the rustic{ness} of it!

No, I have not hung the wreath on the front door yet! It will go up the weekend after Thanksgiving with the rest of our holiday decor.

Happy Wednesday Flip Floppers!

Bullet Points

I feel like I have LOTS to talk about on this sunny, gorgeous Monday and am overwhelmed with putting together a mile long post, so I will just bullet everything!

* I made shepherd’s pie on Saturday night. So comforting and Fall to me. I used this recipe, but instead of the layer of mashed carrots {random} I sliced some baby carrots, diced red and orange peppers and onions and simmered in beef broth with thyme, salt & pepper before adding some frozen peas at the last minute. I then layered the beef, this veggie mixture and the mashed potatoes. YUM!

* I also made an apple crisp using this recipe. Used the granny smiths and Arkansas black apples from our apple picking adventure weeks back.

* Yesterday my long run was 7 miles. This is the longest I’ve gone…and it was LLLLOOOONNNNGGG. But 13.1 is longer so I will forge ahead! Next week I am shooting for 9…I’m not going to lie, this “race” in less than 3 weeks has me stressed. Along with Thanksgiving and preparing for the holidays, the last thing I want to think about is running 9 miles and then finishing 13.1 the weekend after the long Turkey Day weekend. But I am committed and will get through it. Running, walking or crawling…I will get through it! On a positive note, I am not very sore this morning and haven’t had to ice my knee for weeks now.

* I have a new quick craft that I am in love with. I love a craft that I can bust out and be done with. I’m not a fan of lingering projects hence why I haven’t started sanding and painting my little table! I like instant gratification in the craftiness/DIY department.

Check these out:

Glitter Clothespins

Adorable, huh?

Elmer’s glue, a foam brush, some clothespins and glitter.

Wham! Bam! You’re done!

This year I am going to use them to display our Christmas cards ~ I usually put them in my Santa basket and call it a day, but I think they will certainly add a festive touch around the house. I used a couple pictures from last year to see how they’d look clipped to the chicken wire doors of the secretary…

I love that something as simple and mundane as a wooden clothespin can instantly be turned into a fun, fancy, useful piece!

* This past weekend marked our 2 year anniversary back in So Cal. It’s unbelievable to me that 24 months ago the giant Allied Van Lines truck unloaded our belongings here in the SCV. We were greeted with the Sylmar fire the weekend we moved in which caused our refrigerator delivery to be postponed for a week! Ugh….eating every meal out for a week is TOO much.

But here we are 2 years later. Happy we made the move. Sad we left wonderful friends and family in Nor Cal.

* The kids watched Toy Story 3 like 4 times in a 24 hour period this weekend. Thanks Red Box!

I think that’s it.

Happy Monday!

Armed & Dangerous

The glue gun has been working overtime this morning.

By 8:30am, I had all these pins made and took the gun to an old lampshade!

I LOVE how the lamp shade turned out…

It’d look much better against a colored wall…

…and maybe some ric rac along the bottom…

But I’m all out of hot glue sticks.

Closing up shop for the morning…the kids are out of school and we have a lunch playdate. There’s also a new Children’s Place in town {finally!} that I want to check out.

Hope you have a fantastic Thursday!

Put A Ring On It

I’m adding rings to my rosette repertoire…

Small rosette + chunky metallic ring = DARLING statement ring!

A whimsical little piece for the holidays!

I was cracking myself up as I was taking these…

*****

Now accepting hand model applications.

Happy Monday!