Winter, no not yet!

It sure has been feeling like Winter around here lately with temps below zero. We normally are not this cold until much later in the season...say around January. Hopefully the weather will work itself out and the rain will be forthcoming. I didn't think I would ever hear myself say that I wanted rain, but if I have to choose between bitter cold and sun to mild temps and rain, I'll choose the rain. Now in a month when we have had grey skies and rain daily, I may change my mind.

Here are a few crafty ideas to either get you going for the holidays or finish you up.

• Don’t throw out those old ornaments. Decorate them with seed beads, paint, spray flocking or even how about some mini gemstone chips….my version of this is pictured using round styrofoam balls, gemstone chips and sequins.
• Decorate some simple round ball ornaments with metallic paint pens. Write family member names, swirls or stars, add some rhinestones or glitter for some glitz.
• Make your own gift boxes or bags and use old wrapping paper, newspaper or even brown paper and them rubber stamp your design.
• Make a candy tree out of a foam form using pins and any small wrapped candy. Guests can just pick the candy off the tree. Be sure to have a dish near by for the pins and wrappers.
• Make your holiday table sparkle with white lights and some tulle as a runner.
• What about a jingle bell tree. Instead of using gemstones use bells and make your own jingle tree. This idea stolen from Dina as she makes wonderful jingle bell trees. Ha ha or should I say Ho Ho Ho
• Make a holiday mobile out of leftover simple ornaments. It will brighten any spot in the house.
• I know we have all made the paper chain garland, but how about taking it up a notch and use fancy double sided scrapbook paper and alternate each link with the other paper side.
• Another garland idea, use wrapped candy in various colors and staple the ends together to create a long strand, then just tape to the mantel.
• Make your own gift tags this year. Not so crafty, pick up some metal rimmed blank sale tags at the office supply store or cut out your own out of cardstock and embellish with rubberstamps or stickers. How about on the tag glue a picture of the person who is to receive the gift. This also makes a great keepsake.
• Make a memory board. You can make your own out of an old or new bulletin board or you can buy them at any craft store. Perfect to showcase special cards, photos, gift tags, show tickets or anything else you do special during the holidays.
• Who doesn’t like the gift of food for Christmas. How about these ideas, cookie in a jar, soup in a jar, chocolate covered pretzels, candy, cookies, caramel popcorn or how about some homemade jam or sweet bread. I know those are some of my favorites.

 

Thanks to Better Homes and Gardens and Good Housekeeping on-line for some of these ideas.

 http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/home/holiday-ideas/easy-festive-holiday-decorating

 http://www.bhg.com/holidays/christmas/crafts/

 

Absent but not Forgotten

It's been a busy month and appears that it will continue to be busy with the Thanksgiving holiday coming up next week, but I did find time today to check out some cool blogs and found a great holiday decorating idea. Perfect for your Thanksgiving table/decoration or even for Christmas. Pam's Blog Gingerbread Snowflakes deals with all things holidayish...okay, I think that is a word, if not it is now. She has instructions on decorating gourds. These are great and I love the little ones that could be used on a tree. No fancy paints are needed as Pam uses Sharpie pens and colored pencils, she even has links to farms that will sell the cleaned gourds. Check out Pam's blog for all the instructions HERE.

Shepard's Pie - Easy Recipe

Last evening I wanted something easy but comforting for dinner as it has been raining and windy all day. I went to the freezer and found ground beef and then tried to think about what to make, meat loaf, hamburgers, chili, nope none of those sounded good. Then I saw the left over mashed potatoes in the fridge and knew what I wanted, Shepard's pie. I don't make this very often and when I do I use fresh ingredients and make my own gravy with beef stock. This is a quick and easy version and actually turned out pretty good. Perfect when you want a satisfying one dish meal. So give it a try.

Shepard's Pie

1 lb hamburger
1 med. onion chopped
1 tsp minced garlic
1 pkg brown gravy mix
1 pkg (envelope) Ore Ida Instant Potatoes
1 16 oz frozen mixed veggies
1/2 tsp Salt or to taste
1/2 tsp Pepper or to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Brown hamburger meat in a large skillet, when it is almost finished add the chopped onions and garlic. Mix well. While browning hamburger, cook the gravy mix according to directions on the package. It should make around 1 cup.

Cook instant potatoes and set aside. I added about a 1/2 cup of shredded cheese to mine, but this is completely optional. You could also use left over mashed potatoes.

Drain some of the grease off the hamburger then add the frozen veggies. Mix and cook for about 3 minutes. Add your salt and pepper and taste to make sure you don't need to add more.

In a 9 x 9 square pan add hamburger mixture. Pour prepared gravy on top and around mixture. Spoon prepared potatoes on top of hamburger, spreading it out as you go.

Cook for 30 minutes. Dish should be steaming and gravy should be boiling up around the edges.

Passport Cover Tutorial

In my neverending search for cool things to make, I found this passport cover. I know I said that I would only be posting Fall or Holiday ideas, but this fits doesn't it? I'm going on a cruise over Thanksgiving and most definitely need a passport cover, so I figured everyone did. Okay, I may be wrong here, but at some point in your life you may need one. This tutorial looks super easy and very useful. Thanks to Jo over at Chubby*Hobby for the instructions.  Here is her website where you can find those instructions.

Jo's disclaimer: Please use instructions for your personal use and not for commercial purposes.

I hope you enjoy Jo's passport cover.

New Craft Site

I was playing around today and found a new site that allows social networking. The site is free, so I thought why not give it a try. My plan is for it to be a place for other crafters to gather and share ideas and tutorials. Our customers might even like checking it out. The link is on the right hand side and is called Craft How To's.

So, come join me in this new venture of discovery. I will still do my main blogging here, but wanted someplace to house all the great tutorials that I find and make and be able to easily share them. I'll be adding some great ideas and tutorials there soon, so get in on the ground floor. Also, I have no rules on this site except for no porno or disturbing photos or posts in the forum or blog. Let's keep it clean and informative.

Felt Business Card Case

Another felt project that you can hand sew and embroider however you like. If you don't have business cards, you could use this for something else. Have you ever thought of calling cards? My mom carries some in her purse so that when she wants to give out her e-mail address or phone number, she can just hand it to the person. Anyway, over at Wee Folk Art, Kimara has posted all the instructions HERE. Check it out along with some of her other projects. So much fun stuff, I just can't stand it. LOL

If you like these cute little projects, let me know.

A Slew of Crows or is it a Murder

I love these vintage looking crow pictures, although they do seem to have a Fallish look to them don't they. Gail over at Can't Stop Making Things has the instructions HERE.  I really like the way she used the small beveled glass as it adds dimension...humm I wonder if you can get those at a craft store or if you need to go to a hardware store to find them. I'll check it out.

Wouldn't these look cool with the Ouija board houses I posted about? HERE is that posting if you missed it.

Don't you just love Fall decorating?

Eye Glass Case DIY

I did say that my postings would be Fallish didn't I. Well this one could be or it could be a gift for the holidays. The colors of these are definately fall looking so I think I'm still in the ball park. Design Sponge has the tutorial for this great hand stitched eye glass case compliments of Kata Golda who also has a book out titled Kata Golda’s hand-stitched felt: 25 whimsical sewing projects. Who doesn't need another eye glass case for those readers or sunglasses that you throw around in your car, I know I am always misplacing mine. Check out the Design Sponge tutorial HERE. Now I'm off to find some felt.

Also, be sure to check out Kata's blog for some great ideas.

Have a great day!

Just Received an Award

Vicki over at Digi Vickie's Word Art just awarded me with the "I Adore Your Blog" award. Thanks so much Vickie. I'll be passing this award onto some of my favorite bloggers this week.

For those that would like to visit Vickie's blog link HERE. I also have added her button on the right side of your screen.

Scrapbooking and Card Making

Well with the holidays just around the corner, now is the time to get out your card making supplies like rubber stamps, card stock, scrap paper, embellishments and ribbon. I used to create cards all the time and still have a whole box full of rubber stamps stashed away in the garage when my small (7x9) craft room....yes I know it is smaller than a cubical, ran out of room from all my beads purchases. I will never give them up though since I may one day have a larger craft room.... a girl can only dream. Just because I don't have room for them in my house doesn't mean you don't so get all your crafty supplies out and start designing your holiday cards including those for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas.

I've been using for several days now and have found so many great new blog sites. One of those is Lohman Trading Rubber Stamping and Gifts. Obviously, they have all kinds of rubber stamps and supplies that you can purchase but they also have some great ideas. HERE is a link to an article on their blog regarding using buttons on your cards and scrapbook pages. I recommend checking out their site for more great ideas and supplies.

The Halloween stamp pictured is from Lohman's ArtFire shop available HERE. Have fun looking around and if you send me pictures of your holiday cards, I'll post there here.

Quija Board Houses

What a great Fall decorating idea. This crafter purchased an old Quija board cut it up and embellished it with odd bits and pieces. For a closer look at the houses and some of the ideas for embellishing them check out the Craftster web site HERE. The crafter of these cute spooky houses is Knicker Twist and you can check out her web site HERE for more spooky or witchy goodness.

Pumpkin Spice Latte

I thought I would change it up and bit and for the next couple of weeks all my posts will be about Fall and all the goodness that comes with it. That said, I found this great recipe for a Pumpkin Spice Latte that sounds yummy. I can't wait to try it and I have the canned pumpkin in my pantry. Check out The Kitchen's blog HERE. Enjoy!

A New Look

I just updated this blog look today. Still not sure I like it. It is cleaner, but I was really wanting a 3 column vs. 2 and blogger doesn't have a template for that yet. The other problem I'm having is that I created the header on my desktop computer which has a large wide screen and now I'm posting on my little net book. Header is so large that you can't even read it but all the other text is okay. So, now what to do. Do I squeeze it back to the standard size or leave it stretched so that it looks good on a wide screen? I guess I'll live with it for a few days and see how it feels.

I've been marketing this blog and my danasjewelrydesign blog like crazy the past couple of days along with my facebook fan page. Hopefully it will pay off with more fans and higher sales in the long run on my web sites. More exposure has to help. So, I've been using Entrecard.com and leaving my card on lots of blogs. I'll let you know next week if readership has increased due to that exposure. At the top right you can see other bloggers who use Entrecard. Visit their site and let them know how you like it.

I'm always looking for great tutorials and ideas to post her on my craft blog, so if you have a crafty idea and have written instructions and want to share them, I would love to post them.

To get you in the creative or maybe holiday shopping mood, here are a few wonderful artists from 1000 Markets.

Stained Glass Star - LA Glass

Lotus Teapot - New Moon Studio

Clutch - Briana E

Wire and Gemstone Necklace

Fabric ACEO - Sojourn Quilts

Embroidery Cuff - Waterrose Handcrafted

Make A Booklet

I posted about my origami booklets a while back, but I found this post on Art Mind on how to make a really little booklet out of scrap paper. Re-use those bits and pieces of paper from your computer printer or scrapbooking. I think her idea of creating them with your business card on top and then giving them as gifts is a great idea and wonderful marketing.

So, check out Art Mind's blog HERE and while you are there look up some of their other cool tutorials.

I Love Boxes

Okay, I just love containers of any kind. If it will hold something else then I usually want to make it or buy it. With that in mind, I have started making paper origami boxes for my jewelry and now I ran across some boxes that you can fold a little easier. There is a puffy box, take out box and a pyramid box. I love the puffy box and got the idea to put my logo on the paper prior to printing then use it for jewelry purchases. So today, I'm including the template below that I found on Paper and More's web site HERE.

Just save the picture image to your computer, resize or use as is.

Autumn Gift Tag

Well now that Fall is officially here, it is time to start thinking about the holidays. I know it seems early, but for crafters this is probably late. Here is a great video tutorial on how to make this tree gift tag. Lots of possibilities here with an Autumn theme or even a Winter theme. I can certainly see this made into a snowflake for holiday gift giving. But start now so you have time to make several. This video is by Patricia Zapata over at A Little Hut blog.

DIY Wooden Wax Seal

I've always wanted a wax seal for sending special letters or cards, but have never found a seal that I really liked. They were all so similar and blah, but now Rage Haus has written instructions for us to create our own seal out of a wooden dowel. Brilliant!! I already know I have all the supplies except for the sealing wax, but I'm sure I can find that at a craft store.

Head on over to Rage Haus for the complete instructions. I must warn you that you will probably want to make one with something other than your initials.

Tea Soap

Cucumbersome has a great idea on how to use tea in a new way. She created soap and then wrapped the soap to look like a tea bag.

I love tea and the aroma of tea and can just imagine that Ginger Peach tea or Red Zinger as a soap and how wonderful it would smell in the shower or bath. Her directions are simple enough for anyone and she even includes instructions on how to wrap the bars and the tea tag.

I think these would make wonderful holiday gifts and would make a great addition to a gift basket.

Origami Booklet

This pattern is widespread on the Internet, but HERE is a video that shows you how. The pictures of booklets are ones that I made recently. The larger version uses a standard piece of printer paper and was the memorial booklet for my mother in law. As you can see it has a front, 6 inside pages and a back and I added a ribbon on the spine. The smaller version was 1/2 sheet of printer paper as I wanted to get more booklets per page. All you need is paper, bone folder (optional as I used my trusty fingers) and scissors.

These are quick and fun to make. I used MS Publisher to put text and images on mine, but yours could be blank, used as a small note pad inside a purse or car. You could even use it as a mini scrapbook. Please share how you would use your little booklet.

Paper Boxes

I love boxes...actually I love anything that will contain something else and boxes fit that category. You would think I would be very organized with my love for containers, but I'm hopelessly not...I just have lots of boxes with things in them and they aren't very organized. I'm digressing, but you get my meaning.

I found these paper boxes from "Don't Eat the Paste" and fell in love with them. I think they would make great gift boxes with the holidays coming up around the corner. I like the wrought iron gate one best, but will try out both.

Have fun and head on over to Don't Eat the Paste for both of these patterns FRACTALS and GATE.

Scrapbook Paper Madness

I love looking at and sometimes buying scrapbook paper. I don't have a scrapbook and don't make pages but I love the papers. I do use them to make scrabble tile pendants and altered art pendants, just not scrapbooks. I would love to do one of these wall projects like using the paper for the mat of a framed photo and adding embellishments to the frame. Such great ideas here.

So, if you are like me and love paper, but don't scrapbook, here are some great ideas for displaying and using them. For instructions, please see the Better Homes and Gardens web site HERE.

Envelope Books

While out searching the Martha Stewart site, I stumbled across this cool craft for creating an envelope book. I'm thinking this would be great to keep track of all my jewelry receipts by month or you could save those holiday card envelopes (same size) and create a more colorful one and it would have more meaning as you could write on the front of the envelope things that made that holiday special.

There are two ways to bind the book and that is with paper binding or cloth. I may try this first with paper and let you know how it turns out. Check out the instructions HERE on Martha Stewart.com.

Crochet Bath Puffs

Okay are we getting ready for those holiday gifts yet. Here is a simple easy bath puff you can make a give as a gift. Why not mix it with some homemade soap that you can find at a craft show during the holidays or some bath gel. I use one of the net bath puffs, but this one might just replace that one.

I'll be off to the fabric store tomorrow to get me some yarn. Thanks to Crochet Spot for the tutorial. BTW, Rachel from Crochet Spot also indicates that cotton, although super absorbent does get quite heavy and you would probably do better when making this to use nylon yarn. Here is her Cotton Experiment.

Skill Level: Beginner

Finished Size: approximately 5” (13 cm) in diameter
Materials:

• Medium Weight Yarn (approximately 190 yards / 4 oz)
• Crochet Hook K (6.5 mm)
• Scissors

Crochet Pattern: Bath Puff

Round 1: ch 3, 30 double crochet in third chain from hook, place marker
Round 2 - 3: 6 double crochet in each double crochet around
Finish off weaving end into bath puff.
Strap Row 1: chain 30, slip stitch in first ch made forming loop, attach to center of bath puff.

If you need some basic instructions on how to crochet, check out this site.
Enjoy, I'll post a pic of mine when I get it finished.

Festivals and Fairs in WA State

It is almost Fair time here in Washington. A lot of the county fairs are starting up and the Western Washington State Fair will start in September. It's amazing that this summer has flown by so fast and September will be here before you know it.

Here are a few Festivals and Fairs coming up in August here in WA State. For an events list in your area, please check out the Festival Online Network....link at right.

Pierce County Fair
08/06 to 08/09 2009
Frontier Park - Graham, WA

Sumner Arts Festival
08/07 to 08/08 2009
Main Street - Sumner, WA

Auburn Good Ol' Days
08/07 to 08/09 2009
Downtown - Auburn, WA

Clark County Fair
08/07 to 08/16 2009
Clark County Fairgrounds - Ridgefield, WA

Fox Island Fair
08/08 to 08/08 2009
Nichols Community Center, 690 9th Avenu - Fox Island, WA

Skagit County Fair
08/12 to 08/15 2009
1410 Virginia Street - Mount Vernon, WA

A Taste of Edmonds
08/14 to 08/16 2009
Civic Playfield - Edmonds, WA

National Lentil Festival
08/21 to 08/22 2009
Downtown and Reaney Park - Pullman, WA

Orting's Festival in the Park
08/16 to 08/16 2008
Downtown City Parks - Orting, WA

These are just a few, HERE are more. Go out and enjoy yourself and have a corn dog for me.

Paper Lace

Livy, from A Field Journal has some of the most wonderful ideas for decorating at weddings and bridal showers and this paper lace is just beautiful and looks easy. You could also use it in a little girls room or to decorate in your home for a special occassion like anniversary or birthday. Whatever you choose, this would look stunning. Thanks Livy for sharing your ideas.

Summer Sewing Project

This is such a cute top and just in time for our hot weather. I remember wearing tops like this in the 70's....yes, I believe that is dating me. Oh well, they were cool and comfortable which is just what you want when it is hot outside. I grew up in Oklahoma and the Summers would get to 100 degrees for days and 90's was the standard. Now living in Washington State if it gets to 80 we think it is hot. I guess it is all relative, but I couldn't live with that kind of heat every day anymore.

Try sewing this simple top with this free pattern from Sew, Mama, Sew to keep comfortable for the rest of Summer. If I ever get my sewing machine back from my mother, then I might just start sewing again. This top would be really cute with gathers vs. the pleats also.

Stay cool.

Yummy Yarn Free Scarf Pattern

Do you knit? This pattern of scarf makes me want to learn. Isn't it just lovely, so delicate and I bet warm. I crochet, so that is why you will find mostly crochet patterns here, but I couldn't resist posting this one. I think our local craft store offers classes in knitting so I may have to check it out and whip some of these up for Christmas gifts.....something different than my usually gem trees that they get each year. They don't complain.

Yummy Yarn has several free knitting patterns so go check them out and find something to knit up for your winter.

Pet Collar Slipcover

This is so cute. I'm sure I will have to make one for each dog in their own tie dye fabric. They love to wear their sweaters in winter and this would make a great addition to their wardrobe.

Isn't that funny that we talk about our dogs clothes and fancy collars with jewelry? My dogs do wear sweaters in the winter and the spaniel loves to wear his bandana. So check out this free pattern from Penny Sanford HERE is her blog about it and HERE is the pattern. Let me know how yours turns out for your little one....or big one.

Leather Fringe Necklace

I'm not sure what I was reading or where I saw it, but it was a fantastic leather fringe necklace. I wanted one for myself so since I have a vast supply of beads and leather, this is my take on that necklace. I'll write a tutorial for it if there are enough requests.

You will need at least 18" of 2mm leather for the necklace and about 3 yards or .5mm leather in the same color or coordinating. I just adhered the .5mm leather pieces (I randomly cut sizes to start with and then trimmed at the end) to the necklace and then tied knots and added beads. Presto a new necklace.

Vacation Keepsake from Martha

Are you traveling this Summer on a wonderful vacation? Are you like me and bring back maps, postcards and anything else you can grab to remind you of the vacation and then once home don't know what to do with it? Martha Stewart.com has a great idea to keep all your vacation memorabilia safe and in one place while traveling.

You will need to take a loose leaf ring and hole punch with you, but other than that, no other supplies are needed until you get home and want to embellish. One of the comments on the web site indicated that she used it for her daughters valentines she received in school.

I'll have to try this out on our trip to Montana here in a couple of weeks. HERE is the link to the post on Martha's site.

Make an Accordion Photo Album

Here is a great podcast video from Curby.com on how to make an accordion album without tape and glue. I can see making several of these for holiday gifts as well as an idea for me to showcase jewelry designs with prospective customers.

Create your own little mini album for whatever use you need. Check out the video HERE.

Cool Purse Tutorial - Free Pattern

Lazy Girl Designs has a new tutorial for a cute purse that they call Sew Sweet Satchel. This picture doesn't do it justice. They also have a few other tutorials that you might be interested in such as Yo Yo's and a Tote Bag. The tutorial is in a .pdf format so you will need to have Adobe Acrobat to download and view.

Craft News - Upcoming Shows in July

Here are a few shows that showcase handcrafted art in Washington for July.



Kent Cornucopia Days - 7/9-12
Yakima Folklife Festival - 7/10-12
West Seattle Summer Fest - 7/10-12
Westport Kite Festival - 7/10-12
Puget Sound Bead Festival - 7/10-12
McCleary Bear Festival - 7/10-12
Pacific Days - 7/10-12
Hoquiam River Festival - 7/11
Ritzville, Blues, Brews & BBQ - 7/11
Art by the Bay, Camano Island - 7/11-12
Wedgewood Art Festival - 7/17
Raspberry Festival - 7/17-18
Battle Ground Harvest Days - 7/17-19
Bite of Seattle - 7/17-19
Darrington Bluegrass Festival - July 17-19
Sequim Lavendar Festival - July 17-19
SeaFair Indian Days Pow Wow - July 17-19
Art Walk & Wine Gala, Prosser - July 18
Gig Harbor Summer Arts Festival - July 18-19
Art 2 Jazz Street Fair, Blaine - July 18
Sweet Onion Festival, Walla Walla - July 18-19
Birch Bay Discovery Days - July 18-19
Vashon Strawberry Festival - July 18-19
Spanaway Community Fair - July 18-19
San Juan Island Summer Arts Fair - July 18-19
Trout Lake Festival of the Arts - July 18-19
Mill Creek Festival - July 18-19
Kalama Community Fair - July 23-25
Camas Days - July 24-25
Art in the Park, Richmond, Wa - July 24-25
Enumclaw Street Fair - July 24-25
Sixth Street Fair, Bellevue - July 24-26
Arts in Action, Port Angeles - July 24-26
Kitsap Arts and Crafts Festival - July 24-26
Bellevue Arts Museum Artsfair - July 24-26
Lake Stevens Aquafest - July 24-26
Loganberry Festival, Greenbank - July 25-26
Alki Art Fair, Seattle - July 25-26
Ethnic Fest, Tacoma - July 25-26
Seattle/Westwood Summer Fest - July 26-28

Updated 7/9 @ 8:30 pm

Knitted Pouches from the Purl Bee

Do you knit? I don't, but can't resist posting these knitted pouches from the Purl Bee. The tutorial looks fairly easy, but I'm not a good judge...maybe I'll learn to knit one of these days. I love little bags like these, if not for sewing notions, then how about for lipstick/chapstick in a purse or the drawstring bag for a childs collection of rocks. I'm sure there are a number of things we could think of to use these pouches.

So, get knitting!

Wine Cork Place Card Holder

Anyone that knows me knows that I do love a good glass of wine every once in a while. What some of you don't know is that living in the Pacific NW, we have a lot of great winery's here and once a year my husband and I drive down to Napa, CA for a week vacation. There is a reason to our madness at driving...yes, it is to bring back all that great wine that we have found traipsing all over the valley for.

We had been saving all our wine corks for my brother, who was giving them to a friend to make cork trivits....I think. Anyway, now I don't have to save them for him, but make something useful out of them. We don't have a lot of large dinner parties where we would need name cards, but wouldn't this be great for a wine tasting to indicate what type of wine everyone was drinking. You could have one that said Merlot and another one that said Cabernet, etc. Or, as I'm brainstorming here, you could use them as a display holder for jewelry prices at a show, such as earrings $10.00, bracelets $25-$50, etc. There goes my jewelry brain, I have two shows this month to prepare for so, I'm gearing up. I'm sure there are so many other ways to use wine corks other than the obvious wine trivit, so lets get our thinking caps on and create something. So, this tutorial is for all you wine drinkers out there who saves those wine corks for no other reason than to know you drank that bottle of wine.

This tutorial is courtsey of Hope Studios. The supplies are simple, so check out the tutorial and have fun making those card holders.

Supplies:

Used wine corks, drink up! (you can always ask a local restaurant to save them for you, but what fun is that? I like the stained look of a used cork, and you are recycling something that would be tossed out.)

Card stock

Palm sander or sandpaper and a block of wood

Fine-toothed Hand saw or razor blade

Shrinky Dink Dog Tags

I haven't seen shrinky dinks in a long time, but evidently they are still out there. Martha Stewart shares how to make shrinky dinks dog tags and has included a template.

Tools and Materials that you will need:
Shrinky Dinks printable plastic sheets
Regular or decorative-edge scissors
Hole punch

Pet ID tag Template (found HERE)

Instructions

1. Download the template from Martha's web site to your computer's desktop. Open the file and type your pet's name and your phone number.
2. Print tags on a Shrinky Dinks printable plastic sheet. Cut out with regular or decorative-edge scissors and punch a hole where indicated. Bake according to package instructions; let cool. Seal both sides with matte clear-coat spray before attaching to collar.

For more great ideas check out MarthaStewart.com.

Mini Printable Box

This is the cutest tiny box. I printed it as is and cut out, but next time I will enlarge it a bit and print on paper heavier than printer paper. The printable is from Babalisme. Go on over and visit her blog. There are several other fun printables to check out. She also has a postcard to match this great little box.

Happy Monday everyone!

Terrarium Picture Frame

In my efforts to find crafty activities for an 11 yo, I was reading tweets and noticed one from Jennifer Perkins (Naughty Secretary Club fame) indicating she was featured on Dollar Store Crafts and had created this tutorial. I think that an 11 yo boy would love to find treasures...rocks, shells, plastic men, etc. and put in a shadow box frame to hang or set in his room.

You can find the tutorial HERE and obviously when the 11 yo gets his completed, I'll post the pictures.

Button Bow for Dog Collar

Some of you may or may not know that I have two dogs. One is a spaniel mix and the other a very male shitzu. I say very male because he is kind of like a bulldog and plays just as rough as the spaniel. I know the spaniel would probably love this bow on his collar, but I'm not sure about the shitzu. It would look cute on both and looks very easy to make. So all you dog folks, get out your ribbon and make your dog a bow for his collar. Here are pics of Buddy the spaniel and Leo the shitzu.

Instructional video is courtesy of Suzanne from Texas who has posted two videos, one on how make the bow and the other on adding the button, link HERE. She also has an Etsy shop at http://crazyforcollars.etsy.com/.

Artsy Bulletin Boards

While searching the Better Homes and Gardens for kids craft ideas, I came across this one that if not used for kids would be great in a kitchen, office or craft room and provide a bit of artsy decor along the way, especially if you want to highlight some of your photos.

Artsy Bulletin Boards
Use photos and a snippet from a letter written home to create artsy bulletin boards made from cork trivets.
From the magazine, Creative Kids

What You Need:
Computer/printer
Photo
Iron
Iron-on transfer paper
Light-color cotton or cotton-blend fabric
Spray adhesive

Instructions:
1. Scan a photo and letter into your computer. Enlarge and crop them to fit the trivets. Print the images onto iron-on transfer paper. Iron the paper onto light-color cotton or cotton-blend fabric. (Dark fabrics require a special type of transfer paper.)
2. Use spray adhesive to affix the fabric to the cork, smoothing it and wrapping it neatly around to the back of the trivet.

Re Use for Old Spice Bottle Set

I have this spice bottle set on my counter and for the life of me, I don't know why. It won't fit in my cupboard, so maybe that is why it is on the counter. Well, it is time it went away and this great craft idea is just the ticket. I found this on the Better Homes and Gardens site under Crafts for Kids, but I think the bottles could be used for any small craft item such as ribbon remnants, beads, buttons, shells, etc. Just be sure your spice bottles do not have holes in the top, otherwise if sand is put in, sand will come out.

I'm watching my 11 year old nephew in July so I think he will just love this for his treasures.

What to do with sand, rocks, ocean water, and ticket stubs? Here's a clever solution kids will love.
From the magazine, Creative Kids

What You Need:
Spice rack and jars
Computer/printer
Colored paper
Cloud-shape scrapbooking punch
Spray Adhesive

Instructions:
1. Fill spice jars and create cute labels that tell what's what.
2. Use your computer to print words onto colored paper, punch out the words with a cloud-shape scrapbooking punch; affix the labels to the spice jars with spray adhesive.

Enjoy!