State String Art

Wow, the last time I've posted was January 1st! But I am happy to report that I am right on track with my new year's resolutions, and having much fun completing my goals. Here is some state string art that kept me busy for awhile.

Most of these supplies were purchased from a hardware store (I love Ace!) the silver thread is from here.

I googled images of whatever state I was looking for, then I changed the scale when I printed them.

This is the island of Oahu, way easier to just do one island instead of trying to squeeze the entire island chain on a 12"x12" board.

I liked making the Texas art because you know, Texans love Texas.

For the most part, I followed this tutorial. I changed it up a little bit, and I really like the way they turned out. All of these were gifts, but I was thinking about maybe making one for every state I've lived in; but that would be a whole lot...not sure if I'm up for the task!

Fingerprint Ornament DIY

I'm sure many of you have seen this fingerprint ornament floating around pinterest. When I saw it, I wanted to make it soooo bad to commemorate our first Christmas with little baby. Well, technically our second Christmas with Little Baby, but he was born so close to Christmas that it is was all a blur to me, but I digress. Anyway.... on pinterest the comments claimed this ornament could be made with salt dough. Excuse me, but if you actually click on the picture, you find out that the ornament is cast in bronze (hence the hefty price tag) and you are NEVER going to get such fine fingerprint lines from salt dough. Believe me, all you get is a blob of an indentation which could have been a grape that you pressed into the dough.

Now, this is by no means perfect, but I am pretty satisfied with the result, and it sure beats the $210.00 price tag of the one I linked to above!

Supplies: Sculpey clay*, circle cookie cutter or lid/jar/glass, straw, stamps, dark ink (or dark crayon), fine tip Sharpie, Sculpey gloss glaze, and piece of ribbon.

*Note, Sculpey is NOT food safe, only use tools with Sculpey that will NOT be used with food.

1. Sculpey comes in a little square with 4 segments, remove a segment and roll in your hands to form a ball. Flatten ball with a rolling pin until it is 1/4" thick. (I sandwiched my clay between 2 pieces of parchment so it wouldn't come in contact with rolling pin)

2. Cut out circle shape with cookie cutter. Mine is a bit wonkey shaped because I used an exacto knife to cut around a jar lid.

3. Use a straw to poke a hole in the top of the ornament.

4. Now this is the fun part -- fingerprint it up! Be sure to press firmly enough to leave a print, but not so hard where you squash the clay flat. Little baby didn't want to cooperate at first with his finger, but later he willingly gave me his little pointer finger and let me squish it into the clay. Then he smiled, looks like I have a crafting buddy!

5. Use stamps to put the year in the center, or even your family's last name. I used these metal stamps that I have.

6. Bake according to package instructions and cool.

7. Rub a little ink into the fingerprints. I used calligraphy ink and a q-tip to lightly rub it into the impressions. I used a fine tip Sharpie to fill in the year. Let dry.

8. This is an important step, I think it gives a more finished look to the ornament. With a paintbrush, coat the ornament with Sculpey gloss glaze. Let dry.

9. Finally, tie a piece of ribbon through the hole. I used a pre-tied ribbon ornament hanger, just because I had eleventy-million lying around.

A close up: Not perfect, but it is a sweet memory of my little family -- Papa, Baby, and Mama.

Another fun idea is to make smaller, individual prints of your child, with their name on one side and the year on the other. You can make them into ornaments or skip the step with the straw and make them into magnets instead. 

Pinecone Garland DIY

Well, the festive season is upon us, and here is a simple DIY garland that can transition your home from Thanksgiving to Christmas. What I love about this garland is that it is a hardware store craft; I don't know about you but I love going into hardware stores and imagining what I can do with non-crafty supplies.

Supplies: Package of small screw eyes, pinecones, twine and scissors (they didn't make it into the picture, rats!) 

Twist the screw eye into the center of the pinecone. It is pretty easy, but you do have to use a bit of gentle pressure. My finger tips were just a little bit sore after doing all of these.

If the screw is a little bit tight, you can use a pair of scissors or a chopstick to help twist it into the pinecone. Once all of the pinecones have the screw eyes, tie them onto a length of twine. I cut a 7 foot piece of twine and I tied the cones about every 6 inches.

Ta-da! An easy pinecone garland, if you want to get even more festive you can paint the pinecones gold or silver or add glitter to them.

Cute Packaging for Earrings

When giving earrings as gifts, it is best to make sure that they are packaged, you don't want to just hand someone a jumbled mess of earrings and say "Happy Birthday". True, earring that you buy at the store already come packaged, but what about those one-of-a-kind finds from yard sales or your own handmade creations that you want to gift someone? Well, here is an easy (and cute!) packaging idea.

Supplies: Cardstock, 1/8 inch hole punch, scissors, washi tape.

Cut cardstock into small rectangles, cover the top half with piece of washi tape, punch two holes in cardstock.

And here you have some sweetly packaged piggie earrings.

To keep the earrings from falling out, I cut two thin strips of washi tape to cover the earring backs. Washi tape is perfect for this because it is easily removable and won't leave any sticky residue.

Have fun making this easy packaging!

More Christmas DIYs

I just can't help myself, whenever I come across Christmas DIY projects I feel the need to share them on my blog, so here is another round of festive projects from around the web. Enjoy!

1. Christmas Pyramid Cake // 2. Tinsel Garland Wreath // 3. Hot Air Balloon Ornament // 4. Falling Stars Advent Calendar

5. Felt Snow Ball Ornaments // 6. Finnish Star

Do any of you have any wonderful DIYs to share? I would love to see them, just link them up in the comments. In other news, today is little baby's official due date, we'll see if he comes today!

Christmas DIY Roundup

The blogosphere really is an inspiring place, here are a few things that have been striking my fancy lately.

* Glitter Nails by...love Maegan

I love the sparkle, I believe I am going to try this out today.

* Activites Advent Calendar by Jordan Ferney

I've always wanted one of these little wooden hutches, and what a cute idea to fill it with advent presents and activities to do.

* Advent Calendar Iron On by Oh Happy Day

I'm a little late to make this for 2011, but I am definitely keeping it in mind for next year!

*Hand Made Gift Giving Guide by Design*Sponge

I especially like the sound of the Home Spa gift, I've been on an essential oils kick lately, there's just so much you can do with them!

* Paper Bows by Creature Comforts

Things For Baby DIY

Having a baby on the way has made me interested in a whole new realm of things that I never thought was possible. Like this for instance.

I am actually quite excited to try making these. Yes, it is possible to be excited about baby wipes!

While we're on the cleanliness topic how about this?

I've mentioned this DIY before, but it is worth mentioning again...homemade detergent is really inexpensive to make and is perfect for washing cloth diapers (since it's free from dyes and perfumes).

On to the cute stuff...

This birdie mobile.

Cute way to document the age of your baby, just pose him next to the correct number and word and snap those photos!

Striking My Fancy

The internet is such a vast expense of time consuming blogs and websites brimming with creativity. Here's what's been striking my fancy lately.

Royal circus animals.

Clever way to store your tea.

Cupcake paper flowers.

Present in a jar.

Cupcake liner garland.

Oh, and this website. Warning, you could really spend a lot of time here.

A Mini DIY Roundup

D. and I decided to flee from the path of Hurricane Irene so we've spent the past few days up with his parents in safe central New York. I was planning a much more interesting post for today, but I left my camera at home! So instead I will share some links to two very cute DIYs.

Rick rack roses, would be cute added onto shoes, or jewelry.

Wrap bracelets in every color!

More Tags

Not only am I fixated with punches this Christmas season, but also with making tags. Here is another quick way to make festive tags.

 

To make your own glittery tags, dip a rubber stamp into a glue pad, stamp it onto tag and sprinkle with glitter. Easy peasy!

D.'s been using the tags too. What a nice boy. :)

Punch Love

Here I am, crafting with punches again. Every so often I get stuck on one particular crafty thing, and for the past several weeks it's been craft punches. My dad's birthday is this week and knowing how much he likes trains, I bought a train punch and made him a birthday card. Here is the how to.

What you will need; cardstock, patterned paper (I used origami), a glue pad or glue stick, scissors, paper slicer, bone folder, double sided tape, and an edge punch. Martha Stewart carries a nifty little line of edge punches at Michael's.

The punch I purchased happened to be on sale at TJ Maxx for $2. Normally they cost about $16. Oh, I do love a good deal.

Cut cardstock into the length and width you want your card to be. Save scrap pieces. Fold cardstock almost in half, leaving 1/2 and inch at the top.

Position edge punch at the top of cardstock and punch across the top of card.

It should look like this.

Cut patterned piece of paper smaller than the front of your card and tape down with double sided tape.

Use your scrap piece of cardstock to cut into little squares. One square per letter.

Cut letters out of cardstock square and affix to card with a glue pad.

The finished product. I also used the edge punch on his gift tag for a little extra dose of trains. I do hope he likes his card!

Christmas Carol Garlands

The baker's twine sure is coming in handy for all of my crafty endeavors. Last year I saw this photo and wanted to make some garlands of my own.

(source)

I put together a little DIY for all of you who would like to make some festive Christmas carol garlands.

Supplies needed: red cardstock, scissors, tape, baker's twine (or any thin string), and a paper cutter.

Cut cardstock in half, each piece can make one letter.

Cut letters out of cardstock, I free handed all of mine; and it really is easier than you think.

Tape the letters to the string.

The finished product, I love how it turned out, it makes the apartment so festive! Tape garland to the ceiling, it is pretty light weight so the scotch tape is strong enough to keep the garland from falling.

In the bedroom, this is such a quick project and adds so much to the overall look of a room.