New Puppy and Her New No-Sew Bed

If you follow me on Instagram, you've seen a lot of the newest member of our family- Mia Sofia the chihuahua/minpin mix we got a few weeks ago. She is the sweetest most lovable little girl which is good because I wanted a daytime companion and my daughter wanted something to play with, dress up and sleep with! We all got our wishes!

We spend the day together and she gets all excited each afternoon to go get Abby from school!

And, these two sleep together and we take pictures almost every night. They are so cuddled up. Abby wanted a dog to sleep with her since I get to sleep with "Daddy and the cat. No fair!" Her words. So much to say about that. She can have the cat!

Onto the bed... we bought a boring bed at Home Goods, but found us moving it around the house a lot. So, I decided to make her a bed using a simple bed pillow and cute fleece from Fabric.com. 

When we had a Boston Terrier for 6 weeks 2 years ago, I made a bed using fleece and stuffed it. I quickly learned dogs like to find out what's inside their bed and remove it! 

This time I bought 1.5 yards of fleece and a standard bed pillow. I cut 2 pieces of fleece with about a 3" border around the pillow. Then, I simple cut 2-3" strips around all 4 sides of both pieces of fleece and using knots, tied the top piece to the bottom piece of fleece. The pillow is safely housed inside and I can wash the fleece anytime it needs it. 

Super simple and about $15. I love projects like that! Our super spoiled dog now has 4 pet beds and I think the fleece pillows are her favorite!

Nostalgic Christmas Gift Idea

 I am always looking for inexpensive Christmas ideas to have on hand for hostess gifts, thank you to church workers, my daughter's team of teachers, my hairdresser, etc. I have done Peppermint Sugar Scrub in the past and wanted something new this year. Pinterest to the rescue!

I don't ever remember my Mom simmering this on the stove, but the smell is pure Christmas of my childhood. Funny how a smell can take you back!

These were super simple to make and thanks to Amazon, inexpensive to buy many of the ingredients in bulk. I highly recommend making a batch of these and you'll be ready for the many little pressies needed over the next few weeks.

Supplies:

Clear Gift Bags- 20 for $3.47 on Amazon
2-3 cinnamon sticks in each bag- $12.92/1 pound bag on Amazon
2 T cloves- $17.99/1 pound bag on Amazon
1 orange
2/3 cup fresh cranberries

If you are short on time and not making a lot of these, you can easily find everything at the grocery store and bags at Hobby Lobby or Michael's. This bulk purchase should make about 20 of these bags and cost less than $2.50/each.

Directions:

Mix everything in the bag and add a cute little tag with a merry message and directions to the recipient. I added a fun little graphic from a free printable I found online. Thanks Mrs. Craft Berry Bush!

I tied the bag shut and tag on with red bakers twine and then added a simple ribbon. Both were found at Hobby Lobby.

Happy Gift Giving!

$10 and 10 Minutes Bow Organization

I need to admit something- my five year old has well over 100 bows. We have big bows, tiny bows, solid bows, animal prints, polka dots, made to match one outfit, big flowers, little flowers, pinwheel and curly qs, over the top bows, and dainty ones. And, I'm out of storage and sometimes still can't find the right shade of pink! Are you with me on this?

We have used this cute little dress form to hold bows since before Abby was born. I love it, but we have filled it and I can't find bows in it. So, I needed another option.

Money is tight and a project like this is annoying and not budgeted, so I racked my brain for an easy way to hold her bows and make them more visible. Enter the over the door coat rack!

To each of the hooks, I simply tied in a really tight knot a long piece of ribbon. I made it match her bathroom but should have used cheap white ribbon- it is all covered up with BOWS! 

Voila! After donating a gallon baggie full, selling a lot of 30 on Facebook, I am left with this pile!

They are semi organized- flowers, fabric flowers, solid colors, giant, poofs, multi-colored, etc. It is so much easier to grab a bow... $10 and 10 minutes later!

New Year Eve Gold Confetti Glasses

Gold confetti is so popular right now and I thought they would make an inexpensive pair of Target glasses fancy for New Year Eve! It only took a few minutes and a few dollars!

Buy any plain glass drink ware you like. I bought these stemless wine glasses at Target in the dollar spot. You'll also need craft paint of any color, a paintbrush or similar sized object as the handle, and a cookie sheet. 

Turn the cleaned glasses upside down and using the paintbrush handle create confetti along the bottom of the glass. I like the "ombre" effect with lots of dots on the bottom and then spreading them out as you reach up the side of the glass. The spacing, colors and number of dots are your call. Have fun with them!

Place the glasses on the cookie sheet inside a COLD oven. Turn it on to 250 degrees and leave them inside for 45 minutes. Remove and let cool. They are now sealed for easy use and cleaning! 

Enjoy your fancy glasses even if you are just serving water on New Year's Eve!

Easy Tulle Pumpkin

This is a little late than never kind of post!

I started this pumpkin last year and finally finished it the week of Halloween! It wasn't hard by any means, but I grossly underestimated the amount of orange pipe cleaners and tulle I would need. Once I remembered and Hobby Lobby had the supplies, I was able to finish it quickly.

You can find directions here along with lots of pictures.

It is pretty simple and can work for any shape and holiday. You essentially will wire a piece of plastic latch hook canvas onto an embroidery hoop and then attach pieces of tulle (or wire mesh) onto the canvas with pipe cleaners. 

I've seen candy corn recently, but also think that an oval Easter egg would be cute and a heart at Valentine's. Just buy lots and lots of pipe cleaners!

Scrapbook Paper Pumpkin

My MOPS group made these little scrapbook pumpkins last week. Super cute, huh? They were very easy and using my left over scrapbook paper, also really inexpensive. They would make great gifts during the Fall season or make a cute collage with a variety of scriptures.

Using online clip art, I made the template with a pumpkin outline and scripture of thanksgiving. The template is 7x7 inches and was framed on top of 8x8 scrapbook paper inside an inexpensive frame. I just removed the glass. If you'd like the template, I uploaded it here. 

Using a basic glue stick, glue the 1" scrapbook paper circles onto the pumpkin template, covering the black outline. Before you do the top row, add a stem and leaf. I used twine and ribbon.

You can use any scrapbook paper you like. I had a book of 12x12 sheets that all coordinated. I just used a variety of the orange papers.

 My cute little scrappy pumpkin perfect for the Fall.

Fall Burlap Banner

I am involved in a MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) group at my church and volunteered to coordinate fall crafts day at our meeting on Monday. I needed to come up with cute and inexpensive crafts for about 60 women that could be completed in about 15 minutes. Pinterest to the rescue!

My favorite craft from the meeting was this super simple burlap banner.

At Hobby Lobby I found pennant already cut out and measured them at the fabric tables. They were 8" wide at the top and 10.5" long. They were just the size I needed, but not the price I needed. So, using my iPhone calculator, I found that I could get about 26 pennants for each yard of burlap sold on the bolt. I purchased 3 yards giving me 80 pennants for under $12. 

Using cardstock, I made the sample pennant and then traced it 80 times on the burlap. Then, I cut it out over a period of days. Cutting triangles with the point alternating up and down allowed the fabric to go a lot further.

Using stencils and a sharpie, I traced the letter F-A-L-L onto 4 pennants. Other girls did B-O-O or E-E-K for Halloween. If you have more burlap, I think HARVEST or THANKFUL would be cute.

After the letters were traced, I painted them with simple craft paint and a foam brush.

Next, the triangles were glued onto the ribbon with fabric glue. 

 Voila! An easy and inexpensive craft most anyone can do!

No Sew Burlap Football- Fall Front Door Decor

I struggle with what to hang on my front door in September. School has started, so summer is over and summer decor is all faded from the sun. It isn't really fall yet because it is still 100 degrees and pumpkins shouldn't be out in tank top weather. In Texas, September is football season! So, I decided to whip up a little something for my front door is honor of it.

I started with 1 yard of burlap (all of $3.99 at Hobby Lobby) and using a simple Sharpie made the shape of my football and cut it out. You will want to have the burlap foled in half to cut two footballs of the same size (a front and a back). Set aside one piece, it will be the back. Using one piece as the front, I then used my Sharpie to give me a place for the white "stripes" on each end and the cross lines on the top. I just eyeballed it and looked at Google images of footballs.

With my outline in Sharpie, I used white craft paint and filled in my football's details. I used a foam brush and small paintbrush until they were thick enough and had the detail I wanted.

I then went back over it and outlined the white paint with my black Sharpie. It added so much to the simple white paint. It looked much cleaner with the faded white edges outlined in crisp black lines.

Next, I stapled brown tulle to the plain piece of burlap that will serve as the back side. You can use tulle, ribbon, string, whatever you want. Homecoming ribbon usually in stores right now for your local school would be cute!

Next, line up your two piece of burlap with the detailed piece on top and the staples hiding your tulle for hanging on the inside. Using large pins, pin it all around the edge to line it up for stitching. You can trim any excess that doesn't look right at this point. 

Using just a needle and thread, close up your burlap football leaving a small opening for your stuffing. You can stuff this with anything you have- I used quilt batting this time. I have used tissue paper before. Newspaper, old t-shirts, shipping peanuts, it all should work fine. Once it is stuffed, finish "sewing" it shut and knot it up tight at the end.

This is what my hand stitching looked like. I used a large needle and thick brown thread and did a very large in and out of the burlap. Just put the thread through the needle and tie a couple of knots at the end and start at the back and work the needle to the front, back, front, etc. until you are almost done. If you run out of thread, don't worry, just knot up the end and repeat the initial step. If you want it more rustic and done quicker, a stapler will work just fine! Before loading the staples in, use a brown Sharpie to color them. Works perfectly!

 Look at this cute, big and fat football! I love it!

If you want to take it another step, you can add fun ribbons and a bow in your favorite school colors. Think NFL, college alumni, or even the local high school where your kids play! You can also paint on a school logo, name, or your son's football number in the middle.

There are lots of options! This simple method would work for other sports, too. A big orange basketball would look awesome in the winter! We made this one for some friends hosting our Fantasy Football draft party last weekend and added the colors of Purdue University, where he went to school.

It is honestly my favorite season of the year and I am happy my front door is joining in the celebration this year!

Simple Washi Tape Bookmarks

 I ordered some washi tape off etsy and have found it to be so fun and easy! I will share a few more ideas for using it this month, but let's first start with using washi tape for bookmarks.

I am reading a one a day Bible this year and needed a bookmark to keep my place. With all of the e-readers out there, they don't exist much anymore. So, I crafted my own!

It is a folded piece of card stock, covered in cute washi tape and stays shut with two small magnets.

You can make one in just a few minutes and these are great for kids to make as back to school approaches!

I cut my piece of cardstock 3" long. I then added two pieces of washi tape and cut off the excess. If you know your washi tape is 1/2", then you can just cut your paper 1" wide. Essentially, you want it two pieces of washi tape wide and 3" long.

When you cover it in washi tape, just leave a little on the edges and fold it over and tape it down. This is what the inside looks like. I then covered the inside in 2 pieces of washi tape and cut the excess tape off at the end. It makes for a clean and fully covered piece of cardstock.

I then added a contrasting piece on the outside and centered it. It makes it more fun and covers the seam of the two pink pieces.

You will then want to add magnets to the inside. These are the ones I bought- they are the thinnest ones at Hobby Lobby.

Fold your bookmark in half (this is the inside you can see). Trim two magnets the same size. These magnets are sticky, so I removed the white sticker and attached the first magnet. Instead of trying to line up the top magnet just right, I removed the sticker on it, and connected the two magnets, then I shut the bookmark. 

When I opened it back up, I had two magnets stuck to the bookmark and perfectly aligned.

Here it is- my own cute little bookmark!

Happy Crafting and Happy Reading!

VBS/Carnival Party Crafts

The last week of June I worked VBS at a local church and helped design crafts for school aged kids. The theme was Colossal Coaster World and was all things carnvial. There were lots of fun crafts for the kids to make and these two extras I found on Pinterest were among my favorites!

These bracelets were a big hit among the 4th - 6th grade kids. They are inexpensive and simple to make with long balloons cut into 2" strips and strung through elastic to make a bracelet. You can see detailed directions at Michelle Paige's blog. I would love to have them as a party favor when Abby is older!

The kids also made snow cones. I will not lie, these were my favorite and the worst craft of the week. I loved how they turned out and the kids wanted to make lots of them, but they were messy! I will totally make them again for a party- they wouldn't be messy if made by adults. Having 40 kids making them at once was a bit much! ;)

They are made by painting cheap craft paint onto small styrofoam balls with a foam brush. You add iridescent glitter while the paint is still wet and then glue the paper base onto them. We did it all while attached to a skewer to minimize the mess!

The template and detailed directions can be found at Creature Comforts blog. I simply added the VBS logo to the paper cone template before copying it for the kids.

If you are going to have kids do these, I would recommend they do the painting and then bring an adult the painted ball on a stick. The adult can then do the glitter (over a bowl) and glue the cone onto the ball. We premade the cones before VBS and had just stapled them shut. We made about 150 snow cones over 4 days! They take a few hours to dry, so be prepared for that.