the Locket

This fabulous little locket was waiting for me at "Forever 21". It had this fuzzy picture of a tiny blue flower on the front of it. I didn't love the picture, but the locket was around $5.oo and was calling out to me. Just something about it. (You know that feeling?) I got it home and still wasn't wearing it because of that blue flower. So, I printed out a thumbnail of a picture of my sister, my daddy, and me, and trimmed it to fit. I coated a layer of diamond glass over the flower image, placed the new image on top, and coated another layer of diamond glass to seal the picture. I was pleased to see that it didn't damage the photo at all. After it had dried for a few hours I handled and studied it. It was clear, thick, glossy, and I really liked the results. For jewelry I would say that it worked out much better than Modge Podge. It makes me smile that my cheep shopping mall junk jewelry find now looks like a vintage heirloom. :):)

Just Felt Like It Part III

I made these little flower barettes out of felt. They are simple and sweet. I really like them and think that I might make more of them to stick in my etsy store. (assuming that said etsy store actually ever comes to fruition. :)) What do you think?? be honest,...I can take it........... :)

Little "Tab" Baby Blanket

So, if any of you have seen these cutest ribbon tab blankets that are floating around out there,...well little hands just love them. (So much so that my 15 month old kept trying to steal one from a 5 month old. So not cool!:)) Well they are just too adorable, and pretty simple to make. So I thought I would give it a try.

I just used two rectangles of coordinating fabric (approx 18" by 24") and made sure that one of the fabrics was really textured and fuzzy. Then I cut 20 pieces of ribbon about 6" long. I did four pieces of five different ribbons for a pattern, but my friend made one with all kinds of mismatched ribbons and it was adorable as well,...so just go to town!!

I was not even super careful spacing the ribbon. Just eyed it. I pinned the loops facing inside so that when you turn the fabric inside out they just pop right on out.

Placed the coordinating fabric on top and sewed it with about 1/2 an inch seam allowance just to make sure I caught all of the ribbon. (Remember to leave your opening to turn it. I left a corner because it was the biggest space between ribbons and I did not want to deal with sewing a ribbon into the finishing seam.)

Turned it inside out and whip stitched the corner closed. Really easy as pie and now my quarter pint doesn't have to bully littler babes out of their cute little ribbon-tabby blankies. Happy times!!

Frugal Friday

It is Frugal Friday over at the Shabby Nest, and I thought this was a great opportunity/ excuse for me to be the sentimental fool that I am. As my quarter pint grows out of her cute little clothes, (and the plan is for her to be the last one to wear these clothes:)), some of them are harder to part with than others. I know that I have "been there, done that" on the baby shoe tassel thing, but the clothes.....!!! What is one to do with those sweet, adorable, cuddly little clothes?? The extra tender ones that you just have to keep hugging, and smelling, and don't want to box up and stuff away somewhere? Well, there was this little smocked, embroidered, flowery green dress,....WITH matching shoes........ouch........what a dilemma. You see how I had no choice, right?? Plus,...since I already owned the materials it was practically free (for now,............ we won't travel back in time to when I payed far too much for fringe.:))

Now the only thing that it is missing is the other shoe. I am afraid that I will have to make another tassel to match the first and loop them over the top of the pillow like you would an old pair of ice skates.

Shadowbox Art

I am having a love affair with shadow box frames. I really enjoy images and little baubles and tidbits of whatever-ness. If it strikes my fancy I hoard it and save it for 'who knows what'. Every once in awhile I get enough items of a similar theme to make a piece of art out of. The texture and dimension of this art is too fat/thick/goobery...for a regular frame, but that is exactly what makes it appeal so to my senses. Thus,...the love affair. Shadow box frames have got to be one of the best inventions since those gadgets that cut and core your apple at the same time. (Disclaimer, these photos are blurry and leave much to be desired. But you get the idea. I still claim to be one of the worlds worst photographers.)

This piece is made of a bunch of 'romantic' little something-or-others that I saved up.

This one is sentimental because some of these skeleton keys were found in the apartment building that my grandparents had owned. When they passed, the building was cleaned up for sale and my mom brought many keys home. She shared these ones with me.

These both hang in my very red powder room and make me smile when I see them.

Place Mats to Pillows

For those of you who have already seen this post,...I just added it to Thrifty Thursday at Bloggeritaville. Go check it out...lots of fun finds!! (Who doesn't love a bargain???)

I have been searching high and low for quite some time now for the perfect accent pillows for my half pints bed. She already had a beautiful comforter and one decorative pillow, but I could never find the finishing touches. They were either too big, too small, too expensive, too frilly, or just too......................!!!! When I finally found them they were place mats. (miner set back) They were perfect! A set of 4 for $10.-!! After buying some inexpensive batting the whole project cost me approx $12.50, which is not bad for 2 pillows.

Even more fun, they were reversible with two complimentary patterns. I decided to keep them that way so that if we ventured into that 'oh-so-pepto-bismal-tooo-pink-it's-a-girl-thing' stage,...we would already have the perfect pillows! :)

I sewed them, stuffed them, and finished off the seams.

I love them! I would never trade my boys for ANYTHING, but sometimes having little girls is like actually living in the fairy tale. Bliss!!

I am also so excited to add that this post was featured on One Pretty Thing! THANK YOU for the honor!!!

Little Curtains.....

For a small laundry room window. (disclaimer....these photos are yellow and leave much to be desired....pffft!!) I always feel the compulsion to have everything decorated cute. Even the little window in my laundry room seemed so bare to me, and wanting for some flowing tresses of it's own. So I had to dress it up. I got four plain orange cloth napkins at Walmart and sewed some pre- made beaded fringe on the bottoms of them. Then I added some pretty ribbon to the top to serve as tab tops. Lastly I screwed 4 adorable vintage knobs into the wall to serve as a curtain rod.

I tied the napkins onto the knobs, and there you have it...a valance/curtain of miniature proportions.

Hairbow Tutorial

I am not the most articulate person on the planet, therefore I do not often do tutorials. But,...several people have told me they would like to know how I make my bows. This type is my favorite. I call it the double decker.

I like two use three semi-coordinating ribbons in different widths.

I take the widest and wrap it around my fingers until I have two complete loops. This ribbon will determine how large you want your bow.

I have no idea what this stuff is called (helpful huh?), but you can find it in the ribbon section of any craft store. It is an inexpensive twine that is some what wiry, but still very flexible.

I wrap it around twice and tie it off. Then spread the ribbon for a desired effect.

Then I use my next choice of ribbon and follow the same steps making the bow noticeably smaller. I plop it on top and tie it off. (Husbands, roommates, and little sisters can be a helpful set of hands if you are lacking in coordination. :))

I flip it over and tie the whole thing securely in the back before trimming off the excess twine.

Sometimes I top it of with a button or a fabric flower, but when I choose to top it off with ribbon I cut a small-ish length and tie it into a loose knot for a decorative finish.

I put a small dot of hot glue in the front of the bow to hold the knot in place.

Use your favorite kind of clip, (I prefer this kind because they slip easily on top of other bows and hold well in fine toddler hair), and hot glue it to the back of the bow. I try to hold it open so that the clip doesn't glue shut. This can be awkward to hold,...so sometimes I just slip something between the prongs.

Once it is really well secured I wrap the top ribbon the rest of the way around and hot glue it between the prongs. This also secures the clip on better.

Trim off the extra and..............Voila.......................Cute hair bow. Nowadays when I give a baby present I top it off with one of these instead of curly ribbon. (For girls of course. ;))

Creative Man

Nothing sexier than a creative man, right? :) (Maybe I'm speaking only for myself,...but creativity in a guy is really appealing to me.) My husband made these masks several years ago and they are still some of my favorite pieces of art in our home. He was in the graduate program for architecture at the U. of U. and this was one of the many odd assignments that he was given. Due to the fact that he is very artistic and meticulous I think they turned out beautifully. They say that most artists suffer for their work,...well he certainly did. He had me paper mache his face, which took a looonng time. Then it wouldn't dry so I had to blow dry it for him. (Which at first was too cold, and then it was too hot......................)
He spent hours marking slate with a utility knife, and then carefully breaking it. he glued it piece by piece onto the paper mache. I watched as these beautiful masterpieces emerged. Then I selfishly bugged him about retrieving them unharmed day after day until they were finally graded.
I searched high and low for shadow box frames deep enough to shelter them, and short of having them made there weren't any. I ended up mounting them on several layers of cardboard and decorative paper. (Tons of glue, and then I even tied them down,...you can never be too careful, eh?) To my delight............they were fantastic. Sometimes I still stop and stare at them. Thank you talented hubby!