Saturday, January 28, 2012

It's Valentine's Day Baby. Almost Anyway.

I've had these Styrofoam cones since my little sister's baby Sip and See party (postpartum baby shower) and I hadn't been able to figure out what to do with them, since they weren't used at the party. 

I knew I wanted to do some decorating for Valentine's Day and so I went on my Pinterest search.  However, there are very few ideas on "valentine's day tree".  So, I made up my own.

I'm not used to posting tutorials on what I make, so please bear with my photographic skills.
{or lack thereof}

I decided to make a rosette tree with scraps of fabric from various projects.  I also had some super cute shimmer beaded sewing pins and others with teeny hearts on them!  Perfect!

I KNOW I pinned a great tutorial on how to make these fabric rosettes, but alas I can not find it.  I will try to explain the process with the pictures I took...


First I cut a gazillion circles out of white felt.  Ok, not that many, but a lot!

Then a bunch of 1-1 1/2 inch strips of fabric.  Various lengths.  Just think, the longer they are the bigger the rosette.  Think of the scale of your project.  My cones are like mini cones, so I opted for small rosettes.

Tie a know at the end of a strip.  I found it easier to fold the strip in half, right sides out, in order to make it easier when the twisting part came.

Get ready to twist!  Put a dab of hot glue in the middle of your felt circle.  Then glue your knot down.  You will be twisting the fabric around the knot and gluing at short intervals to keep the fabric down.

See, glue.

Keep twisting!

This is a fairly loose twist.  I tried to do some loose, and some tight to add another level of texture to the trees.  This picture is showing you the end of the fabric.  I trimmed the felt so it wasn't visible, and the fabric will be then glued to the back.

Dot of glue to secure the fabric to the back of the rosette.


Aren't these pearled sewing pins cute??  I used them to secure the rosette to the cone!


Look at those pin heads!  I love the heart ones I scattered in there!

Apparently in April when Picnik closes I will be upgrading {in a big way} to Photoshop.  I have more pictures that are all sideways and for the life of me can not get them to upload to blogger the correct way.  So I apologize, but if you will go along with me here and just turn your heads a bit and use a little imagination, you might be able to see the cone.  Here we go!


I let my older two children select the fabrics I used.  The one in front is the little man's and the one behind is the little lady's.  Yes, the one in front is not totally finished.  I just ran out of glue sticks.  But a quick trip to the craft store was all I needed to get them done!

Next, I worked on the banner!  I saw an awesome tutorial on Pinterest that showed how to make felt hearts.  It was so easy!!!  And even though mine look a little lanky, I think they turned out really nice.  My felt was just left over fabric from Christmas, and in the tutorial, they use the very thick kind.  So that is why mine look wimpy!  I also wanted the "be mine" burlap bunting to be incorporated in the banner, so I cut some 6 in triangles and the letters and bee on my Cricut.  I used some pink embroidery floss to connect the hearts, then to tie a bow to connect the burlap.  My daughter says, "It is just beautiful Mommy".  So even if it isn't perfect...and it might not be repinned a hundred times, my daughter loves it and I couldn't ask for more than that!


 And because the littlest of the three munchkins loves bees, we added a bee to the bunting.





 Happy Valentine's Day!




Tuesday, January 24, 2012

It was a bug.

It was a bug. 

Okay, so I haven't been sick for the last month and a half.  And we did not have an infestation.  I caught the "I'm too busy to do anything creative" bug.  But now that I have a few minutes of PEACE while the baby is sleeping, the men are finishing a job in the basement and the pre-schooler is at a play date... I can finally write.  And it feels good.

This past month I've been reflecting on how addictive the crafting world can be.  I started off wanting to sew my daughter's clothing, because let's admit it the clothing for 7 year olds is for the most part not appropriate.  And we just can't dish out hundreds of dollars to pay for the nice stuff that is.  But once I started I couldn't stop there!  The boys needed cool stuff too!  And then the Esty shop came.  Facebook came.  The blog came.  PINTEREST TOOK OVER.  {haha, I <3 you Pinterest}  And I did a craft show!  I was overwhelmed with the information I was finding and I wanted to DO it all.  And be the best.  Well, we can't have our cake and eat it too after all {in this case}.  I had to give something up.  I took a break on crafting and my kids seem happier.  I took a break from my Etsy shop and I felt like I was breathing easier. 

 But now that the holidays are over, I have more time! 

So HELLO Pinterest crafts!  I'm back!

I found the cutest bag at Pottery Barn for Valentines mail. 

PBK mail chair backer


So cute, right?

I had a ton of extra felt from Christmas, and some white ricrack and some left over cardstock (because I'm not THAT crazy to applique the letters on a bag that will be used ONE day a year) and I got to work on my version.

At first, I was just seeing if I could figure out how to make the thing.  But after I sewed one panel together, I realized it was going to be pretty easy.  I finished with what was a pretty cute chair backer mail bag...



Then I looked up at the Pottery Barn photo again.  Sigh.  It was a mail bag, but not like that super duper one from PBK.  Well, let's bring in the ricrack and cardstock and see what we can do...




Alright, not shabby at all!  But then I again looked up at the other picture.  Wait!  There's a mail slot on the top!  That's genius!!!



Well, now you have it.  A little bit of time sewing.  A little bit of time thinking.  A little bit of time resewing and rethinking and there it is.  My first mail bag for Valentine's Day.  The first grader was giddy when I showed it to her.  {almost as much as her mama was!}

So then my pre-schooler asked where his was.  Oh boy.  Here we go again.  He doesn't like hearts you know.  So I had to come up with another plan.  A stamp works, right?  I mean it is for mail isn't it?






And seriously, how cute is that envelope?


Yeah, it's safe to say I'm back.  I will try {really really hard} to remember to update my blog more often!  There are some really great ideas out there! 


These bags and envelopes are for sale in my Etsy shop right now!