Thank you so much for taking the time to visit my blog! Please look around and see what my blog has to offer, from party inspiration, DIY craft tutorials, yummy treat ideas, and so much more! And make sure to pin on Pinterest! If you click on the Free Printables tab on the top of this page, you will find all of my posts with free printables. Also, if you would like to stay up-to-date with all of my new posts, subscribe by email (enter it on the right margin of this page) or like my Facebook page HERE. Have a blessed day!

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

FaveCrafts.com Craft Designer

I am so excited to be a Craft Designer on FaveCrafts.com.  You can get 1000's of craft projects, patterns tips and ideas for FREE at FaveCrafts.com. You will find many crochet, knitting and sewing patterns along with many more!  So far, three of my craft projects have been published on their website and I hope to submit more in the future.  If you have craft projects you would like to submit or want to browse the 1000's of crafts projects on their site, make sure to visit their site today! 


Here are a couple cute crafts from other craft designers for St. Patrick's Day and Easter.  These holidays are just around the corner. Just click on the image to get to FaveCrafts.com for the full tutorials:

Tissue Paper Shamrock

Dazzling Easter Eggs

And below is a look at my official Craft Designer page, or you can click HERE to go there directly.  



Monday, February 27, 2012

Happy Birthday Chris!


Happy birthday to an amazing husband and father.  
Brody, Skylar, and I love you so much!

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Tutorial - Framed Photo Board



If you have kids, then I'm sure you have a ton of photos of them that you'd like to display.  I don't usually print my pictures since they're all stored digitally, but for their birthday parties, I do like to print some copies of my favorite pictures to show them to our guests.

For the kids' recent birthday party, I took a bunch of pictures of them in hopes to pick the best ones for their party invite.  When I was sorting through the images, I couldn't help but smile at some of the silly poses and laughing faces and I thought it would be a great idea if I could display all of the pictures at their party.  I knew I wanted to create some sort of backdrop for one of the food tables, and thankfully I had a large framed canvas that was no longer on display in the house that would be perfect for this project!  

So I began creating a framed photo board, and here are the steps if you'd like to create your own...

You will need:
Framed Canvas
Fabric (size depends on canvas size, 1 yard was all I needed)
Staple Gun
Ribbon
Clothespins (I used the mini ones that I spray-painted black)
Photos

Step 1: Take the frame off the canvas (there should be a clip that you unclip to separate the pieces).



Step 2:  If you wanted to repaint the frame, now would be the time to do so.  But I needed a gold frame, so it was absolutely perfect for me!  So I just covered the canvas with the fabric that I had purchased and used the staple gun to staple it into place (my husband helped me with this project, so he actually did the stapling part, I wanted to make sure to give him credit!)




Step 3: Take your ribbon and place it on the board.  You might want to play around with the layout of the photos to determine how many rows of ribbon you want and to determine the proper spacing.



Step 4: When you're happy with the ribbon layout/spacing, take your staple gun again and staple the ribbon onto the board.


Step 5:  Clip the frame back onto the newly covered canvas.  And use clothespins to clip your photos to the board.  I used mini clothespins that you can find in the wood crafting section at your local craft store.  I also spray painted the clothespins black, but that is up to you!

Enjoy your new photo board and the photos that you can now display!


Check out Brody and Skylar's birthday party details HERE!

Friday, February 17, 2012

Tutorial - Girly Tablecloth With Eyelet Trim


Remember this girly tablecloth I used for my Valentine's Day table?  As promised, I wanted to share with you my tutorial on how I made this.  Since I am a new sewer, I don't know if I'll be using the proper terminology for sewing, but this just shows you that anybody can create this tablecloth!  With fabric, cute trim, a sewing machine, and a lot of pins, I promise that this is something you can make even if you are not a very good sewer.  I simply sewed an eyelet trim around the border of a hemmed piece of fabric!  But if you are like me and need step by step instructions and some photos, here it is!

First of all, I wanted to let you know that this tablecloth is made for a small table.  The table I used is the children's SANSAD table from Ikea. It measures Length 39 3/8 " by  Width 23 5/8 ":


I started off using a white fitted twin sheet that I got on clearance from Target.  I do not have any photos of this since it was not a pretty process!  I just kept cutting it down until each side looked straight to me, and I hemmed each side and what I ended up with was a plain white tablecloth that measured 54" x 33".  So if you wanted, you could simply buy a yard and half of fabric from the craft store and trim it down to the size you need.  

Once you have the finished, hemmed piece of fabric, lay it down on the floor or somewhere you have lots of space. 


Measure it and determine the amount of trim you need.  Since my tablecloth was 54" x 33", I needed a total of 174 inches of trim to sew around the whole tablecoth.  Since trim is sold by yard, I divided 174 by 36 and came up with 4.8333 yards.  To be safe, I bought 5 yards of trim, and surprisingly, I used all of it!  So make sure to buy extra!  I'm sure it has something to do with the corners, but it is better to have more trim than less!  I bought this beautiful eyelet trim from Jo-Ann, and thankfully I had a 50% off coupon.  The trim was $2.99 a yard so it can add up, but with the coupon I ended up spending less than $8 for the 5 yards.


Now that you have the trim and your plain tablecloth laid out on the floor, you need to pin the trim to the tablecloth.  Make sure you have the tablecloth with the hemmed side up (the part that you don't want to be seen). And you have the trim also with the hemmed side up. Lay the trim on one corner of your tablecloth, but leave about an inch and a half to connect the end of the trim later, like this:


Pin the trim all the way down the side like this:


Once you get to the corner, make sure you pin the trim around the corner, leaving no openings.


Pin all the way around the entire tablecloth, until the ends meet.


Join the ends and pin them together.



Now it is time to sew using your sewing machine!  Take your pinned tablecloth and sew around the whole border.


Stop sewing when you get to where the ends of the trim are pinned.  You will still have a small opening at that part since it is easier to hand stitch while the trim is not fully sewed to the tablecloth. 


Hand sew the pinned trim together.


Once the trim is hand sewn together, go back to the sewing machine and finish sewing the trim to the tablecloth.  And you will be finished!


Can't wait to show you how I used this table at Brody and Skylar's Birthday Party!  Stay tuned!  I hope to share photos very soon!

Linking Up:


Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Happy Valentine's Day!


Hope you have a wonderful day celebrating Valentine's Day with the people you love!  I plan on spoiling my kids with lots of chocolate!  Hope your day is just as sweet!

I wanted to share with you Brody's Valentine card for his class.  I got the idea from HERE.


Friday, February 10, 2012

Easy Valentine's Day Party Ideas


Valentine's Day is only a few days away!  I feel horrible for slacking and not posting as much as I should have in honor of one of my favorite holidays.  But it's just been way too crazy in my household and I put all of my focus on birthdays these past few weeks.  

If you are like me and absolutely love Valentine's Day and don't feel like you have the time to do something special for your little ones, do not fret!  I designed a small tablescape that would be perfect for an intimate gathering for just your family, or a small play date.  Or if you wanted to use these little tips, you can create a party big enough for a large classroom. 

Tip #1:
Use Little Debbies as a special treat.  They look absolutely beautiful, just take them out of the wrapper and put on a pretty display.  I used pink and white polka dot scrapbook paper (or you can use wrapping paper), and placed them on a cake stand.  It is up to you whether or not you want to share your little secret that it is not homemade.

Turn this:


Into this:


Tip #2:
Use pretty Valentine's Day cups to display ordinary items like cereal, candy, chips, etc.  I bought pink and red silcone hearts from Jo-Ann craft store and put Cocoa Puffs in them as cute little snack holders. 

Turn this:

 
Into this:


Tip #3:
Make a banner using heart-shaped ornaments or other heart-shaped cutouts.  I was lucky enough to score some heart-shaped felt ornaments at Target after Christmas season at 90% off (they were 10 cents per pack of  3!)  If you don't have anything like this already in your craft closet, you can use felt or foam shaped hearts, or heart doilies that are currently in the craft stores for Valentine's Day.   If the hearts don't already have a hole, just use a hole puncher to make holes so you can string ribbon through them to make the banner.







Tip #4:
Make customized Valentines for your child's friends and classmates using my DIY printables!  These cute printables are new to my Etsy shop and customized with your child's name.  They fit 3"x4" cellophane bags that you can fill with little treats or other goodies like stickers, tattoos, pencil sharpeners, etc.  I also made matching mini Hershey wrappers that you can also use to fill the bags with.



 I hope these tips help and that you have a great Valentine's Day!  Stay tuned for my tutorial on how I made this tablecloth!