Super Cute, Fast and Easy Personalized Craft Gift

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Paper Wings posted this fabulous, easy and frugal personalized post it note holder gift craft and I thought it was so neat I had to share it with you in case you're looking for some last minute gifts that won't break your budget or take a crazy amount of time to make. You can probably make them for under $2 each if you already have enough extra scrapbook paper, embellishments and ribbon lying about. Her original post and instructions are here: http://violetpaperwings.blogspot.com/2010/12/post-it-present.html. Merry Christmas, happy Chanukkah, happy Kwanza and greetings of the season dear crafting friends!

Happy Birthday Banner Card to Celebrate Craftsi's First Birthday

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It's hard to believe that this blog is already a year old! Happy 1st Birthday, Craftsi! In celebration I thought I'd share this beautiful happy birthday card. I don't know that I'm going to ever make it but I do adore it. I've seen it on Pinterest and was thrilled to find it's source and instructions at Martha Stewart's crafts department. What are your favorite happy birthday crafts? 

Sources/original links:
Balloon card image: https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-TGVqGFkS45U/TZpD2n25hcI/AAAAAAAARIk/_xnKmiH8sPM/8.jpg?imgmax=512
Happy birthday banner card: http://thecraftsdept.marthastewart.com/2011/04/happy-birthday-banner-card.html

Cute and Easy Snowman Ornaments

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Simply Cute Creations made these adorable, cute and easy snowman ornament crafts from clear ornaments, baby socks, fake snow and bits of ribbon and string.  I love them. Here's the how to link: http://jhagfeldt.blogspot.com/2010/12/snowmen-ornaments.html. You could turn this into a recycled craft by using scrap ribbon and string and/or repurposing some baby socks.

Can you believe the holiday season has begun already? Merry Christmas! Happy holidays! Happy Hanukkah! Happy Kwanza! I wish you joy, peace and happy crafting!

Cat Painting

This is my first cat painting (as far as I remember, anyway). It's from a paint by number kit but all the mixing got complicated and I suspect I didn't quite do the kit justice. However, I still love the painting, even though it's far from perfect. Probably because I love cats and sleeping cats are always cute. What kind of crafts are you doing? I'd love to hear about it! Happy crafting!

Bath Rug from Recycled Towels

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Fine Craft Guild's easy tutorial for making a soft bath rug from recycled towels caught my eye today. You could use recycled bath towels, kitchen towels, face cloths or even tee shirts. This looks like an easy do-in-front-of-the-tv craft and I live that I'll be able to custom size it for my weirdly shaped bathroom. Have you ever made one of these kind of rugs? How did it turn out?

You can find the tutorial here: http://www.finecraftguild.com/eco-friendly-bath-mat-fun-diy-project-to-do-in-the-easter-break/

Happy crafting!

Easy Halloween Cards

When I was first married my mother in law encouraged me with cards for every holiday. It was a tradition I soon adapted (for immediate family members - it's not a huge undertaking like Christmas cards are) in hopes that it would encourage the recipients too. Now that I'm getting crafty (not that I have a clue as to what I'm doing) I've started making some of my own cards. Hopefully folks will like the personal touch and hopefully, with time and practice, I'll get better at it. But I thought you might like to see how easy card making can be. With some blank card stock, an orange sharpie, a black ink pad and $1 stamp from Michaels I was able to make this year's Halloween cards.

I started using my regular card writing script (freehand quasi-calligraphy). The card stock was cream instead of white and I guess that was enough to make the orange marker look more red than orange but I still think it's cute and Halloween-y.

Then tried patterning my writing after the scrapbook page Halloween greeting below. I didn't quite achieve their look but it was fun trying. We have two black cats so I liked the black cat stamp and hope our recipients like it too. I added orange dots to the stamped cats eyes to give them a more Halloween-y feel.

If you made your own Halloween cards and posted photos I'd love to see them! Happy Halloween and merry crafting!

Halloween Pumpkin Recycled Egg Carton Craft

I made this cute Halloween pumpkin out of a recycled egg carton (the cardboard kind) and set it on top of some extra upside-down Halloween colored cupcake wrappers (I used three so they'd be strong enough to support the pumpkin). The stem is made from a pipe cleaner and I used basic acrylic paint for the pumpkin (orange for the body and black for the facial features). It was a relatively quick and easy project. The only time suck was waiting on the orange paint to dry before painting the black Jack-o-lantern face on the pumpkin. I had planned to make three of these for our dining room holiday display nook but decided to give it to a friend instead (the photograph was taken in her house where she'd placed it in her foyer).

Happy October and Halloween everyone!

Craft Room Inspiration

Someday, I'd love to have my own beautifully organized craft and hobby room. Until then I'm inspired by my friend Janet's room. You can see my virtual tour of her super organized craft room here. Is your craft room/area organized? I'd love to hear about it or see pictures if you've posted them on the web. Please share!

As always, I wish you happy crafting!

(Full link just in case you need it: http://lovejoyandpeas.blogspot.com/2012/10/janets-super-organized-craft-hobby-room.html)

Halloween Cat Dishcloth

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I totally have to make One Crafty Mama's Halloween Cat Dishcloth. I'll likely make it in vanilla or blue yarn because that's what I have on hand in cotton but if I love it as much as I think I will I'll buy some orange and black yarn and make two more of the little dishcloths / washcloths. What a fun little knitting project for Halloween (or any time of the year if you love cats)!

You can find the original post with pattern here.

Happy crafting!

Source: http://onecraftymama-2011.blogspot.com/2011/09/halloween-cat-dishcloth.html

How to Make an Easy Clothespin Wreath for Fall, Thanksgiving or Harvest

Over a year ago I saw a cute clothespin wreath somewhere (maybe in a Martha Stewart magazine?) and decided to make my own version as a thankfulness wreath. Now that I see it against my white door I wish I'd painted the clothespins yellow instead of white but other than that I'm pretty happy with the wreath. You don't even have to paint the clothespins if you don't want to but I did because the marker bleeds some on the unpainted wood and looks nicer on painted clothespins. Here's how to make your own.

• Cut out a donut shape for your wreath base (I used a recycled priority mail envelope for mine; it was handy and it was already white so I didn't need to paint it, saving me a step). I recommend making the width about the same or slightly less than your clothespin grip depth (so your clothespin has the maximum amount of cardboard to grip but isn't sticking out into the middle of your wreath).
• Clip your clothespins all around your wreath until you're happy with the arrangement. I recommend using a multiple of three if you are going with my design.
• Spray paint your clothespins your desired color, following the directions on the can. You could also use acrylic paints if desired.
• Wait until after the wreath is completely dry. 
• Using three different colored markers (I used brown, orange and red for a fall/harvest/thanksgiving theme), write something that you are thankful for on each clothespin (this could be a fun family activity).
• Embellish your wreath as desired. I used leftover sunflower and scarecrow stickers from last year's wreath. I also cut out a rectangle from another part of the recycled priority mail envelope, used a red marker to create a border around the edges and wrote "Thankful" in the middle and then affixed it to the wreath with double sided tape.
• Tie a ribbon around the top of the cardboard wreath form and securely knot it in a bow for hanging.

Happy autumn and happy crafting, dear readers!

Flower Power Pincushion

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The Sewing Loft Blog has a tutorial for this cute flower power pincushion. When I get around to making mine I'll likely use a red background and pink and white flowers but I absolutely love her idea. Of course. first I'll need to learn how to embroider, make a french knot, and embroider with beads but in the meantime I can admire her pretty pincushion. Happy crafting and happy National Sewing Month!

Source: http://thesewingloftblog.com/2012/09/20/nsm-flower-pin-cushio/

Cute Cat Magnet Plastic Canvas Craft

This is my very first plastic canvas craft using yarn. I adapted it from a kit pattern and I love how it looks on our refrigerator. Most especially because you can't see the mangled back side of it.

Plastic canvas lessons learned:

• You count the bars not the holes/boxes when trying to follow a plastic canvas craft pattern
• It's better to work an area at a time than to go back and forth and wind up with a tangled yarn mess
• If I ever have another tangled yarn mess on the back (likely as I'm still a newbie at this) I could cut a piece of blank canvas before finishing and sew it to the back part of the front piece to hide the mistakes before applying the magnet strip (thanks Kelly!)
• It really is better to keep your yarn strings to manageable lengths because it gets really tangled if your piece is too long

Do you do plastic canvas? Do you have an tips or lessons learned to share? I'd love to hear them! I thought this was a really fun project and I look forward to doing more plastic canvas crafts in the future. Happy crafting!

Plush Knit Scarf Completed!

I think I started this scarf last November but I posted about it back in December 2011. Well, it's finally finished! I had planned to keep it for myself but there's a special someone who looks fabulous in this baby blue color so she might get it for Christmas if I can part with it. It's just a basic knit stitch scarf but the yarn is crazy soft and feels wonderful. I didn't put fringe on it because the unbound ends unravel a lot and the fringe would soon look like a few scraggly strings instead of fat yarn pieces.

What's the longest it ever took you to complete a simple craft project? I'd love to hear about it!

Happy crafting, dear readers!

Happy Harvest Plastic Canvas Craft

Isn't this scarecrow, pumpkin and bird plastic canvas craft cute? I think of it as my happy harvest decoration. I figure it can be displayed from September through Thanksgiving so it has a nice long time on display before being put away for next year. I was the lucky recipient of it on my local freecycle group (I'll have to do a post about freecycle on my Frugal Phyllis blog soon - it's a fantastic way to build community, help others, save money and is good for our planet).

My plastic canvas crafts aren't that advanced (until a few weeks ago I'd only done basic ribbon cross bookmarks; I'll post my first project using yarn with plastic canvas on Monday) so I can certainly appreciate all the hard work that went into this craft.

It's a happy craft that makes me smile. What makes it even more special is that my Freecycle friend's mother made it before she passed away. That kind of makes it an heirloom craft. So when I see it I'm reminded to pray for their family. Do you have any crafts in your house that are especially dear to you? I'd love to hear about them!

Happy crafting, dear readers!

Easy Sisal Trivet

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Thanks to the Too Much Time on My Hands blog I found this great yet easy sisal trivet craft on the Hi Sugarplum blog.  I'm thinking of doing a heart instead of a cross (not quite as easy but I like hearts) and using red spray paint instead of blue. Our kitchen is yellow with red and black accents so I think the red would work nicely.

What would you do with this fun trivet craft?  Happy crafting!

Craft instructions and source: http://hisugarplum.blogspot.ca/2012/06/diy-sisal-trivets.html

Pillowcase Craft Ideas

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As the lucky recipient of a back of used pillowcases I had to go online and see what kind of crafts I could make with them (not all of them - some are too pretty or soft to cut up) and I thought I'd share some of my favorite links with you. There are projects for making tote bags, skirts, dresses, purses, crafts projects, autograph pillows, decorations, aprons, table runners, home decor, laptop cases and more from vintage, used or inexpensive pillowcases. When you reuse a pillowcase you're making a green craft and even helping our plant.

How to sew a pillowcase tote (pictured above) from Country Living

11 pillowcase craft ideas from Crafting a Green World (video tutorials)

9 craft ideas using pillowcases from essortment

5 pillowcase craft projects from Care2 (video tutorials)

Have you ever made a pillowcase craft? I'd love to hear about it!

Happy crafting!

Disclosure: I have no material connection with any of the people or companies linked in this post and am just sharing my opinions.

Patriotic Wooden Block Craft

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The link to this project was in my email from Michaels today. As a veteran and military spouse I have always loved the phrase "Land of the free because of the brave." I might make a sign instead of three blocks (I have sign making materials but no blocks on hand) but either way it's a lovely summertime patriotic craft. The free instructions are available here. If you don't want to click through the link you should be able to go to Michaels.com and search "land of the free patriotic blocks" for the instructions too. Happy summer and happy crafting!

Source:  http://www.michaels.com/Land-The-Free-Patriotic-Blocks/e10440,default,pd.html?cgid=projects-craftpainting-brands-americana&start=1

Drawing / Art Bootcamp Exercise

Creative Jewish Mom is conducting a drawing / art boot camp for her kids this summer. I'm thrilled that she's sharing the exercises via her blog because I'm going to join her boot camp from afar. How could I pass up free art training? I may not have been able to enjoy art as a kid but I can now. My results may very well look like they were done by a child anyway but I'm fine with that. I just want to enjoy the process.

The first exercise was to draw a horizontal pattern using two colors. I wanted to use hot pink for my second color but that marker wasn't available. The above picture is my final drawing. I wish I'd sketched it with pencil first so I could have avoided the screwy infinity symbol in the biggest butterfly but other than that I kind of like it. Can you tell the difference between the final draft (above) and the almost final draft (below)?  And if you can, which do you like better?

Source for art bootcamp: http://www.creativejewishmom.com/2012/06/building-drawing-confidence-in-kids-bootcamp.html

Cute Crocheted Cat (or Kitten)

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Saw this cute stashbuster crochetted kitty on Creative Jewish Mom today. It's so cute I might either have to learn to crochet or figure out how to transfer the crochet instructions into knitting instructions so I can make my own little crafty cat and maybe some to give as gifts for fellow cat lovers. They're adorable and what a great way to use up extra yarn (or less than one skein of yarn)!

The original source gives a nice how to tutorial here (in both German and English): http://breienenhaken.blogspot.be/2011/07/crochet-cat-free-tutorial.html. Happy crafting!

Cat Quilt

Cat Lover's Bed
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My friend Nadira posted this fantastic photo on her Facebook wall and my first thought (after "awwwww") was what a great quilt that would make. Only I don't know how to quilt yet ...but maybe someday. I think for dog (or rabbit etc.) lovers you could pick your favorite two or three kinds of dog (or rabbit) and do a similar patterned quilt too. And if you wanted to get really fancy you could draw or use photos of your actual pets and go to one of those custom fabric sites and make a quilt with customized images of  your very own pets. You could pick a couple and repeat them (like in the image above) or go wild with a whole bunch of different photos (or anything in between). Now I'm wondering how much that would cost. If I ever were to spend that kind of money on a quilt (I'm kind of frugal) I'd probably pick my favorite two or three photos of our cats and have them in a fun repeating pattern so it's not too busy. Happy crafting!

Butterfly Wreath from Recycled Security Envelopes

I think I'll start saving up security envelopes to make this cute butterfly wreath from recycled materials (in this case, security envelopes). I might add a red ribbon or some other red accent to make it patriotic as that tends to be my theme for summer decor. You can read the directions on how to make the wreath here.

Happy Memorial Day! 

Fantastic Add A Closet Craft / Home Improvement Project

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I've got three huge Sauder cabinets in my bedroom serving as a quasi closet and I've been wondering how to turn that area into more of an attractive and actual closet looking space without having construction done in my bedroom. This looks like it would work! I'd just have shelves going all the way across instead of a workspace behind the curtains. So exciting! Now I just have to get hubby to agree. 
Project instructions available here:  http://prudentbaby.com/2011/04/prudent-home/the-craft-room-redesign-project-hidden-workstation-2/.

Happy crafting!

Hair Clip & Accessory Board Craft Project

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A Facebook friend posted a link to this "hair clip board" project today and I thought it'd be great for organizing my barrette and hair clip collection (I have an inordinate amount of hair accessories). I'll either need to use a larger frame or set my ribbons further apart because I'd be making it for adult sized hair accessories instead of baby accessories but it should be easy to adapt the instructions to my needs.

Instructions are available here http://prudentbaby.com/2011/09/baby-kid/make-your-own-hair-clip-board-2/ if you want to make your own. I have a frame and ribbon on hand so I'll just need to sort through my fabric stash and see if there's something that will go well in my vanity area. This looks like a nice and easy rainy day project. Happy crafting!

Japanese Kimono Doll Bookmarks

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Saw these at http://www.angsandy.blogspot.com/2012/04/kimono-doll-bookmarks.html today and thought they'd be fantastic bookmarks and maybe even make nice little mailable (in a regular envelope) gifts. The web address above has a complete tutorial on how to make the cute little Japanese kimono doll bookmarks if you want to make your own. Happy crafting!

Lawn Ladybugs (Bowling Ball Art)

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Thanks to a recent post by my Facebook friend Alan Cook I now am on the lookout for free or really cheap bowling balls so I can make my own posse of lawn ladybugs. Aren't they adorable? I'm thinking of sticking with the red and blue colors as our house is white and I like a patriotic look but the assortment above looks fun and inviting. You can read more about it here. Happy crafting!

The Big Book of Holiday Paper Crafts

I totally enjoyed perusing this thick book of paper craft ideas. They have a huge Valentine's Day section which will help with ideas for next year's Valentines for Hospitalized Veterans project as well as ideas for almost every major American holiday.

The cute card above was in the valentine section but I'll likely make a version of it for my hubby before then. 

This one too. My hubby doesn't go crazy for cards but I like making them.

 Love the animal card ideas.

 I have some little felt scraps that would work wonderfully for the flower and butterfly ideas here.

I thought this would work great for the veterans too.

In case you wondered what kind of supplies are needed for the cards here's a sampling from one of the Halloween cards.

I love this owl card. The book includes a template for it too.

 Cute Halloween paper craft ideas.

 I want to move toward more homemade crafts (versus store bought) and thought these tags were adorable.

 Love the bird and the tree. Not sure about the color scheme but that's easily changed.

Kissing birds, wiener dogs and a merry owl. Adorable!

Hope you enjoyed my mini tour and review of the Big Book of Holiday Crafts. Happy crafting!

Valentines for Hospitalized Veterans

I used the handles from a beautiful but beat up Christmas gift bag to make the heart.

This card was made with materials generously donated by Stampin' Up representatives Amy Lindberg and Stephanie Littlefield. Thank you ladies!

I've been busy making valentines for hospitalized veterans for the USO's Miles of Smiles program. Here are photos of a few of my projects. I'm hoping that the love poured into them will bless the veterans even though I have a ways to go in learning valentine making skills. Some of the valentines are cards, as above, and some are more like flyers, using a whole sheet of paper, as below.

Inspired by http://familyfun.go.com/crafts/be-my-valentine-animal-lovers-664701/

Inspired by: http://familyfun.go.com/assets/cms/crafts/carrot-stamp-catepillar-card-valentines-day-craft-photo-80-FF0201VALENA13.jpg

Inspired by: https://encrypted-tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn%3AANd9GcSoa-gyKAIyxC3oJ4_sP_sW7VxoJsdIiSx9K6TRfivu2DeA_Eta

Inspired by: http://familyfun.go.com/assets/cms/crafts/give-a-hoot-valentines-day-craft-photo-80-FF0210VALENW02.jpg

Potholders from Old Towels

Photo from http://www.instructables.com/id/Easy-Peasy-Dish-Towel-Pot-Holders/?ALLSTEPS

Plan to make some potholders in the near future. Not sure if I'll use these instructions http://www.instructables.com/id/Easy-Peasy-Dish-Towel-Pot-Holders/?ALLSTEPS

or these http://home.howstuffworks.com/how-to-repair-kitchen-equipment4.htm or if I'll just wing it. I have some higher priority sewing projects to do first but wanted to keep these links handy for when I'm ready.

The bulk of my recent craft activities have been related to making valentines for hospitalized veterans but soon I'll tackle my sewing projects. 

What craft(s) are you working on?