Thank You Tags

Recently I went on a work trip and needed help with my kids. I am so lucky to have wonderful friends who are supportive and love my kiddos. I wanted to give them a little something special to show my gratitude for them.

So I happened to go to Hawaii for this work trip (I know, I know! It was awesome!) and I picked up some Hawaiian Hershey's Kisses. They have a macadamia nut inside. I filled a cup up with the kisses and added a handmade tag. I love how it turned out.

Cute, Right?

I don't think this photo is true to the colors. I printed out the paper from a digital paper pack by Glitz Designs. It is called Vintage Blue Paper. You can find it here. This is my first time using their products. I love the yellows and blues in this pack, just my style. I then used my lovely Silhouette Cutting machine to cut the different parts of the tag. I love it! I really need to learn how to use it better. I know there is sooo much more I could do with it. The flower is designed by Lori Whitlock, tag itself is by Sophie Gallo, and the thank you word art is by Loni Stevens. You can find all these files in the Silhouette Store.

I think they turned out rather well. I love paper crafting but hated looking for purchased embellishments, sticker sheets, and spending too much time hand cutting. You might be seeing more of this kind of stuff from me. ;)

Hope you're having a wonderful Thursday!

Love, Moni

Crepe Paper Heart Garland

I was strolling through pinterest and saw a whole bunch of cute Valentine's Day garland ideas.  I saw this one, and thought I could do this.  She didn't have instructions, just said what it was and took a picture.  But, my elementary memory came to me and I remembered all those time wrapping little squares of crepe paper around the eraser of the pencil, dipping it in glue, and then sticking it on the construction paper.  Well, this is just as easy.  Just add a little ribbon and there you have it! 

Here's what you need:
Cardboard
Ribbon to whatever length you want it
Crepe Paper
Glue
Pencil
Scissors

I obviously used cardboard.  I thought it would hold the weight a lot better.  And I had tons of it laying around from Christmas packages.

First of all I made a heart that I liked on regular paper.  I cut it out and I traced it on some cardboard.  I then cut out my hearts and poked 2 holes in each each heart and laced my ribbon through them. 

Then it was time to cut squares out of the long strips of crepe paper.  Fast and easy if you triple or quadruple the layers of paper. 

If you don't remember how to do this I will show you.  :o)  Just put your pencil right in the middle of your square.

And then fold up the square so it wraps around your pencil.  Then you'll dip it in glue.

And then press it onto your cut out shape.  Bring up the pencil and the paper stays there all cute and stuff.  Keep doing this until it looks just the way you want it.  I didn't glue over the ribbon, so if I wanted to move the hearts I could.  The crepe paper hid it pretty good.

How cute is this?!

Here's the finished product.  I think it turned out so cute.

Sorry for the horrible lighting on this one.  We don't have much sun today.  But you get the idea.  It's cute, and Valetinesy.  Is that a word? 

If you are really into the crafting mood then you can make The Heart Felt Wreath I made last year.  I have made a few more since then just to go around the house, and I LOVE them!  I just love Valentine's Day.  Always have.  And it's not cause of the treats and presents, it's because my birthday always follows the day after.  :o)

Have a happy day!  And let's pray we get clobbered with snow today.  

Halloween Wreath

I had this old crummy twig wreath on my front porch.  It had seen better days.  I was just gonna take it down and find something to replace it, but a light bulb went off (IT DOES HAPPEN!) and I thought to myself, "Hey!  I can fix this up and make a Halloween wreath out of it."  So that is exactly what I did. 

This is the wreath before.  It's kinda just blah!

I bought a can of black spray paint, cobwebs, spiders, and a cute BOO sign.  I made sure to spray the wreath down with cleaner first, because it had some dead bugs, leaves, and stuff in it.  I then took it out back on the dirt and sprayed the heck out of it with spray paint.  Make sure to turn it over and all around to make sure you get everything black.  I let it dry for awhile.  Then I hung it back up on my porch and strung some cobwebs all over it.  I let Coy put the spiders on and he really thought that was fun!!  Last, I hung the BOO sign in the center and I was so excited how cute it turned out.  I think i'll change it for every holiday.  How fun would that be?! 

This is the old wreath after!  Cute, right?!  I love it!!

So, if you have an old wreath or decoration, fix it up!  It's cheaper than buying something new and makes you feel good to create something on your own.

Happy Wednesday!!

Bird Houses

If you go up to the family farm you will see bird houses on a lot of the fence posts up there.  Now, who is the sweet and thoughtful person who did all that work?!  My Daddy!  He is so crafty and likes to create things.  I think that's where Monica gets a lot of her creativity.  I get a little of it.  :o)  I told Dad to cut me and the kids some bird houses out of his scrap wood he has laying around and he gladly did it...after a few reminders.  I had Justy put them all together and then I had my sweet hubs screw them all together.  My good friend, Candis, came over and she painted one to take home too.  They all turned out super cute. 

Justy sanding off some of the rough edges.

Here's all the pieces.  If you are interested in the blueprint, I'll have to have my dad write one up.  Looks pretty simple, if you ask me!

Justy doing her BRIGHT paint job.  What a cutie!

And the finished product.  Mine is the one on the left, then Candis's, and then Justy's.  I think I want to add a dowel or a funky stick to put under the hole.  I had Jason hang mine up to the tree in my front yard.  I hope something takes residence soon.  :o)

Did you have a fun weekend?  Do anything fun?  We finally got spring/summer here and I wanted to spend my days outside in my garden or flower beds.  The baby limits my time outside, and that's why I probably enjoy it so much more now.  We had tinfoil dinners on the fire outside and just enjoyed each others company.  Here's to another fun filled and busy week!!

Teacher Gift

Call me Mrs. Procrastintor. It is a label that has followed me forever so I wouldn't be offended. I know most of you have no use for this idea now that school is pretty much over but I wanted to share three things.

1. I found a great blog with lots of crafty ideas. I was excited to find it and wanted to pass on the goodness. It is called Skip to My Lou. I found this teacher gift idea here. If you are desparate for a quick idea, their are a million on the net and so many great blogs.

2. Don't be afraid to copy people. If you have a crafty bone in your body, even a little one, you can craft. If you're blogging give credit where credit is due. Sometimes I come up with an idea myself but mostly I'm a good copy cat. Everything can be adapted too. You've heard me complain about my lack of crafty supplies here in my town so I adapt a lot. This gift originally had a cute colored tin pot, twine, and a silk flower. I only bought the gloves, seeds, and pot and then used what I had on hand. The original idea had a chalkboard label which is a brillant idea but I grudgingly don't have a Silouhette so I make due with a mod podged paper label. Someday, people, someday. :)

For a quick run down, I printed out the label on regular computer paper and printed out the saying on a brown lunch sack. I crinckled the saying and distressed the edges then stapled it to a couple packets of seeds. I used hot glue to adhere the ribbon and the flowers and mod podged the label on. It was super quick and only cost about 5 dollars.

3. This boy who I adore is growing up on me. Today is his last day of 1st grade. He has grown so much this year. I am proud of him and love him so much. He is sweet, sensitive, inquisitive, and so smart. Now onto a summer of fun and loving having him home.

Beezie and his teacher. Love you bud!!

Have a happy Thursday!!! It's pouring rain here, hopefully you have some sun to enjoy! :)

Owl Taggies

I sewed. Can you believe it? Niether can I. :) My friend had twins recently and I made these adorable little Owl Taggies for her sweet little babes. As you know, owls are huge right now. They are everywhere and so stinkin' adorable. What is it about those pointy ears and large eyes?

The pattern is mine but I have seen stuffed owls here and there on the web. As far as the tags go though, my friend Megan makes these stinkin' cute stuffed blocks with tags and I figured the owl would be cute with tags too. Since I've made these, I've seen some stuffed owls with tags. Go figure, goes to show that hardly any ideas are original. Anyway, here are my cute lil' Owl Taggies. If I ever get my scanner to work I'll share my pattern with you. Would anyone be interested? Cause if there's no interest, I'm not going through the trouble. Let me know. :)

Have a happy Wednesday! Get ready, because Friday we have a Giveaway! It's a good one! Stay tuned!



Love Pillow

I don't have a lot of Valentine's decorations so I wanted to throw something together to add to my decor. Pillows are a quick and easy way to add a little color on any chair for any season. I saw a similar pillow somewhere on the Internet but didn't use a pattern. The Internet is full of ideas to get your creative juices flowing.

Okay, there is no where in my town to get fabric which is a good and terrible thing. A girl needs access to beautiful fabric but on the other hand it helps with the budget. This is a perfect project for using up some of those scraps I know all of you have.

First off I cut a pillow front and back. For the front I used a piece of canvas and then the back has a solid red piece of cotton. I cut mine 12x15.

For the hearts I used scraps and ironed them onto a piece of wonder under. This stuff is great for applique. It does have a bit of a learning curve, at least for me. :)

Flip your scraps over and trace whatever shape you want on the back. Hearts are easy, but you could also do other shapes for different holidays. I may be doing a Spring pillow too. Cut out your hearts. Then peel off the paper backing, lay out on your fabric, and iron in place. Peeling the paper off was more work than I expected. I took my scissors and scored the back and kind of peeled from the middle out. It was impossible to peel from the edges.

After, I had the hearts ironed on I thought the pillow needed a bit more. I embroidered on the word "love" and was happy with the results.

I didn't feel like sewing around each heart so I sewed an x through each heart. I like how it turned out. Sew your pieces together, stuff, sew your opening closed and there you have it! A super cute pillow to add some color to your Holiday decorations.

This year we started a new tradition. This is our "love pillow". I started with the pillow and when I do something nice for someone I put the pillow on their bed. Then it's that persons turn to do something nice for someone else. Since it's the month for love, we are working on being more loving. It's been fun so far.

Hope you're having a great week. :)

Heart Felt Wreath

Awww...I absolutely LOVE how this turned out. And I LOVE Valentine's Day...it is the day before my birthday.  :o) Next trip out of town, i'm gonna get some more stuff to make a couple more for my windows.  I got all my supplies at Hobby Lobby.  I love Love LOVE that store.  I could spend hours in there.  It was a pretty inexpensive craft to do.  A little time consuming, but if you are like me than you enjoy taking a break on the couch every now and then and that is when I worked on this.  You can change it up the way you want.  Use pink, red, white, black, purple, a mix of a few colors. You have endless possibilities.  I went with a romantic red and found some cute Valentine ribbon to go with it.  I hope you make one and if you do link us to a picture.  I'd love to see how yours turned out.  And if I can do it, anyone can.

Isn't it gorgeous??

Here's what you need~

3/4 yard of the color felt you want to use

heart shaped foam wreath

straight pins

Ribbon to hang it with

You need lots of circles out of your felt.  I almost used all of it for this one wreath.  I counted once and I had 130 circles, but I ended up cutting quite a few more.  I used a 3" cookie cutter to trace my circles.

Cut them out so they look like this

And then fold your circle in half

And then in half again

Stick a pin through the point of your circle, like so...

And stick it in your foam wreath.  You don't need to put them on the back.

Awww...lol...what a cutie.

  Once you start going you can move them around to your liking.  When you are all done pin on your ribbon to the back to the length you want it.  And your done...Simple...Gorgeous and I think it was pretty fun. 

Source:eighteen25

Christmas Fabric Garland

Erica?  Doing something crafty?  Ha!  I said the same thing, and YES, I did.  And it was super easy, anyone could do it.  Even me.  I seen a picture of some garland in a magazine, and thought to myself, "Hey!  I could do that!"  I went to my local store that sells fabric and with the help of and Aunt who works there, we picked out some festive fabrics that all went great together.  I picked some of the cheaper stuff to stay in budget and I have tons of extra to make more than one string of garland.  I was so happy with the end results, and I have even got a few compliments on it from people stopping by.  Makes me happy to get comments on things that I made.  :o)

Heres what you need to make your own~

Several yards of assorted fabric
Twine
Ruler
Scissors
Pretty ribbon

Measure out several feet of twine.  Using a few inches at the ends, fold it over into a loop and tie a knot so you have loops for easy hanging.

Prepare fabric by making small snips along the bottom of the fabric every 2-3", and tearing into strips atleast 6" in length.  If you don't want the ripped look then use scissors or pinking sheers.

Simply knot your fabric strips onto the twine.  Alternate fabric types and colors, or do it however you want.  If you want, throw in some bells or beads.  Use your imagination.

If you make one link us to your pictures.  We'd love to see what you come up with.  Hope you are all having a fabulous week!!