Gift Card Holders

Thank goodness for scraps because the wedding's tomorrow, and I don't have time for anything else.   These are WAY cuter than anything store bought!

A Project Two Years in the Making

This is the back of me this morning:

and now:

10 inches ready to send to Pantene Beautiful Lengths.

No tangles getting out of the pool this summer for me! I swore I'd never do this again...but maybe one more time before I go too grey. Maybe.

Felt Clips

Don't mind the crusty look. That's just Teagan.

But at least it's a cute clip, right? I've seen lots of tutorials on line for felt clips, but I couldn't find one that didn't require prescision cutting, tracing, or patterns (I'm sure they're out there though!).  So this is how I do mine (the perfect project to do while watching TV. No sewing. No hot glue. Just a needle & embroidery floss).

This is what I started with. I cut white rectangles to cover the clip, pink & white circles, and a green leaf.  The floss matches my flower pieces.  My flowers are very "Mary Engelbreity-y."  Simple is good, right?

I estimate where the top of the clip will be & sew the flower right onto the felt. Make sure you get all 4 pieces of felt in so that the leaf doesn't fall off. I sew it on just like a button (and may try a button next time!).

On the other rectangle,cut a small slit big enough for the bottom part of the snap clip to slide through.

 Then sew the two pieces together with a cute running stitch.  Stay as close to the clip as possible (you won't be able to see the clip because it's sandwiched between the felt, so I try to make my needle hit the clip on every stitch).  Trim off the excess felt, making sure to keep the shape looking cute, and voila:

The plain one is even easier--obviously.  And if your lucky, after you get your crusty looks, you might get a smile like this:

The Bow Board

I finished my bow holder for Teagan. And a slew of new flower clips too. I already have a great bow holder for T's nursery made by my crafty friends Amie & Lisa...but she needed one to match her new room. I did my bow holder a tad different and just covered the glass of the frame so that some day I can use the frame for its intended purpose.


With new clips, I was able to I channel my good friend Becky (check out Laynie's perfect hair), and today Teagan had matching flowers in her piggies.

Found it!

I found T's dresser today at a garage sale. Girly, yes? When we went to pick it up, Ryan looked at thier driveway and kept going, convinced that it wasn't that dresser that I had purchased...he just doesn't see the vision! So, now begins the process of refinishing...I orignally thought I would do this, but there aren't a lot of nooks and crannies. So maybe I'll just revert to my old ways and spray paint this one. We'll see.

Yes...it's a punch.

A few people have asked me how I did the butterflies on my wall, so I thought I would do a little explaining (no tutorial needed). Yes, I borrowed a punch from my dear, amazing & talented friend, Kristi. She had this adorable thing just laying around her house (I've seen it at Hobby Lobby, but she's better than Hobby Lobby).


I got a piece of wood at Lowe's -- 1"x12"x48" & had them cut it into 12" squares. (At $.25 per cut after the first cut, I feel a lot better about going here and doing a ton of her projects without my own saw!) I sanded, painted, sanded again & added a hanger. I punched a ton of butterflies out of scraps--make sure to have a good mix of prints & solids--then adhered them to the board with a glue dot. You want to make sure the glue dot is either small or cut it so that is fits on just the body. Then you can bend the wings up like so:

I know...so cute. For the big butterfly, I enlarged one of my punches & used the copy as a stencil. I Mod Podged it onto the board and was done. The hardest part of the whole project was getting the spacing right (2 rulers and a pencil was how I ended up doing it).

I'm temped to put some of these butterflies on T's tree!

Butterflies

A while back, I found this bow holder tutorial & thought, why on earth would that woman destroy those butterflies to make a bow holder!? In all fairness, her bow holder did turn out cute (and I may make one for T's room in the future), but I hated to see those butterflies go to waste. So, I made my own.

Cute, huh? But I can't put just one above Teagan's bed. So how about three? I love them, and so does she.
Teagan: "They pretty."
Seal of approval, yes?

Thanks Grandpa

Many years ago, Ryan's grandpa made him this nightstand. He died a while before Ryan and I met, but had I met him, I think I would have liked him. Hello...maybe he would have even taught me to woodwork! It's an awesome nightstand & we've always used it. Though, the finish was never really our style.


So...I finally confirmed (probably 3 times) with Ryan that he didn't care if I painted it. And then I painted it. It took quite a few coats & I'm not sure I did that great, but it looks fantastic in T's room. The Liberty of London box I picked up fits perfectly. If she's anything like her brother, she'll have her fair share of junk to hide away in that box. Which makes me love it (and the lid) even more.

And, I love the little milk glass candlestick that I got a CAM. I flipped it over & voila, what a fun vase! I do have a second (it came in a set) and now I need to find another spot for it.

Diana's Birds

I love good friends...I could not have done (should I say, would not have done?) nearly as much on my tree mural today if it not for the encouragement from my friend Diana. She is amazing. I would have fretted and contemplated and worried and wondered if every leaf looked perfect and if every branch reached the right location. She helped me to look at the overall picture, adjust things & gave me the confidence to just go for it. And go for it we did! No overhead projector either. We just opened up this page on Ryan's laptop & went to town (chalk first of course).

Diana added these little birds. Aren't they just adorable?!

I'm still going to do a little touch up because I have to get rid of the excess chalk marks, but imagine this with a little dresser (that I WILL soon find on craigslist) in front of it. Once I get that...and the nightstand painted...and the curtains up, I'll take a picture of the whole ensemble. Thank you Diana!