Valentine's Day Door Hanger

Browsing through Pinterest has made me obsessed with always having a season/holiday-appropriate wreath on my front door. I didn't have anything planned for Valentine's Day, so I whipped something up tonight.


I started  by cutting a heart shape out of thick cardboard (I used a diaper box). I'll probably use the inside heart for some other project.



I would imagine this cardboard technique could be used for other shapes of wreaths, too, as long as you don't plan to hang anything too heavy from it.






I then cut two holes in the top of the shape and tied string to each side.













I then began gluing ribbon to the heart form. I started with the two "points." I folded the edges of the ribbon over the bottom of the points, overlapping them in the back to make the flat on the front. Then I cut a slit in the top part of the ribbon and glued down each side in a way that it laid flat in the front. That probably makes no sense, but I can't think of a better way to explain it.














Hopefully this picture helps.











I then wrapped the rest of the heart in ribbon. Then I made some felt flowers and hot glued them on. Tada. All done!



The felt flowers are made by cutting the felt into circles, cutting the circles in a spiral, and rolling it up pretty tight. Then you hot glue it together.













I think it will look lovely on our door for Valentine's Day. You can see our current snowflake wreath in the background!













While I had the hot glue gun and felt out, I decided to make some felt flower brooches.

Just make your felt flowers, glue a round piece of felt to the bottom of the flower and then hot glue the brooch pin to it.






I don't plan to wear them with my sweatshirt, but I just wanted to take a picture of them on and that is what I happened to be wearing.










I hope you all have been inspired to make a Valentine's Day wreath or door hanger and/or some felt flowers.  -Kristen

Felt Mistletoe and Salt Dough Ornaments

The two things this post is going to cover aren't exactly related, but they were both for Christmas, so, uh, deal with it. = )




I made some felt mistletoe to hang in our entryway. I think it turned out pretty cute.

To make it, I took some dark green felt and cut out mistletoe leaf shapes. I just cut as I went without drawing it out first or making a template. I wanted them all to look a bit different, just like a real plant would. Then I cut out small white circles and glued them to the stems of the mistletoe. I then tied the different pieces of felt mistletoe together with red ribbon and hung it in our entryway.








As gifts for family and friends, I made salt dough ornaments. I decorated them with paint and one with glitter. I made a lot of footprint ornaments since it was E's first Christmas. I also did footprint ornaments for the parents of the babies I watch (it was their first Christmas, too).

I used a recipe for salt dough that I found online. I made two separate batches. The first batch looked great, but I couldn't really get it to dry. I had them for about 3 months drying out and they were dry by Christmas. The second batch bubbled up terribly when I heated them to try to speed up the drying process. I am not sure what caused my problems, but I'm hoping the next time I try, I won't run into the same issues. And I hope whatever recipe you use works for you. I'm not going to share one because it wasn't mine to begin with and it didn't work out very well, but you can find lots of different recipes online. Despite all of my problems, I still think they mostly turned out alright.





The rectangle ornaments have snowflakes painted on them.










So sorry this picture is sideways. The onesie ornament says E's name and birthday. The heart ornament with two birds and an egg in a nest says Parents-to-be 2011, which is an ornament I made for us for last year's Christmas.

To do the glitter ornament, I used the method I described in THIS blog post.








Have a great day! -Kristen

Winter ONEderland

Well, E's first birthday has come and gone. We now have a little toddler taking steps around our house. His birthday party was a fabulous Winter ONEderland. I tried to DIY as much as possible. I think it turned out pretty great. And E had a blast with his family and friends, so no matter how it looked, I know I did a good job because he had fun! Just a warning, this is going to be a pretty long post, so bear with me.





First, we'll start with his invites. I bought wintery paper and silver envelopes. I hand-painted snowflakes on the envelopes and "Elijah is turning ONE!" I also added some 3D snowflake stickers that I found at Target.

I wrote a little song for his invitation to the tune of "Winter Wonderland." It said ...
"In December there will be a birthday
For a very special little boy
We'll enjoy hot chocolate with Elijah
Who brings us all a great amount of joy

Later on, we'll eat cupcakes
He'll get icing on his face
We'll face unafraid the mess that he'll make
Join us in a Winter ONEderland"






Outside the entrance to the party space, I put some homemade ice marbles.


To make these, you simply fill balloons with water (and food coloring for the colored ones) and freeze. Then you cut off the balloon and place your ice marbles on display! In order for them to be good and solid, make sure to keep them in your freezer for two or more full days.

On the doors to the building, I hung a homemade snowflake wreath 

(which I touched on in THIS blog post) and a sign I made and printed at home. 

We decorated the 

doors to the party space with 

balloons and twisted streamers. 

The gift table was 

decorated with balloons 

and the wall behind it was 

decorated with twisted streamers. 

On the gift table, I also had a picture frame for all of the guests to sign. I will be putting a picture from the party in it soon (hopefully).










Behind the food table I hung a photo banner.

 To make the photo banner, I first painted 12 clothespins white. Then I hung the photos (one of E as a newborn and one from each month 1-11) on white yarn. Then we hung the banner on the wall. 

Each month I took a photo shoot with a sign I made. I changed out the number each month to reflect how old he was. Each photo in this banner has a picture with his sign, other than his newborn photo. 

To make the sign, I used scrapbooking letters on card stock and I cut out the numbers for each month from white card stock. 

Also on the food table was a snowflake and a cardboard 1 that I made.


To make the cardboard 1's (which we also used as centerpieces for the guest tables), cut out 1 shapes from cardboard, cut out a small, thin rectangle piece for each 1 you are making. Then cut a slit in the 1 and slide the small rectangle piece into the slit. The small piece serves to balance the cardboard 1. I chose to paint all of the 1's white to go with the Winter theme, but you could paint them whatever color you choose or cover them in pretty paper to go with your party theme. If you are going to paint - use spray paint. It will save you SO much time. I used acrylic and had to do 3 or 4 coats to cover the writing on the cardboard!







We had hot chocolate and marshmallows, bottled water, and cupcakes.











The cupcakes were made and decorated by my fabulous chef husband (thanks, Kendall).

I did make the white chocolate snowflakes myself, though.

To make these, I melted white chocolate and put it in a squirt bottle (you can get one at Walmart for less than $1). I "drew" them onto parchment paper and then put a sprinkle in the middle. Once they dried, they came right off the paper. Of course, they are fragile! I made these a day ahead of time and stored them (with wax paper between layers to prevent any potential sticking) in the freezer.

 Behind E's high chair, I hung the popsicle stick snowflakes that I made months ago and talked about in THIS blog post.


We decorated the base of his high chair with a drop cloth (in case smashed cupcake made its way to the floor) and taped some balloons to the drop cloth.








On E's high chair I put a name banner. I cut the blue paper into the same sized rectangles. I printed the letters and snowflakes (which are on each side of his name, but you can't see them) from Microsoft Word. I cut them out and glued them to the blue rectangles. I punched a hole in the top corners of each rectangle and threaded a piece a white yarn through the holes. The banner was then taped to the high chair.







And of course I have to include a cake smash photo of my cute little one year old. He really enjoyed that cupcake! To the point where he was licking it off his sleeves and everything!

Here is a picture of E wearing the tie shirt that I made and talked about in THIS blog post. He looked adorable in it, even once it was covered with hot chocolate and cupcake.













And finally, I'll include some pictures of the stuffed monster I made for him.

This monster was made using the same method as the other stuffed monster I made for him and talked about in THIS blog post.









And I made sure to put a 1 on the back so we always remember when I gave him this monster.







I would like to give a shout out to all those who helped decorate and celebrate with us! We had a wonderful time and we are so blessed to have all of you in our lives! Thank you!  -Kristen

Felt Animal Ornaments

For Christmas I made a lot of felt animal ornaments. It all started with an owl.




First I gathered different colored felt, coordinating thread, and plastic bags. I drew out a template and cut it out. Then I cut out the felt to match my template.

















I sewed on the eyes first.


















I added some details to the owl with thread (the feathers on the belly). Then I sewed together the rest of the front of the owl.


















Then I sewed a piece of ribbon onto the back piece of the owl.











Then I sewed the two pieces together, leaving a hole in the bottom for stuffing it.



































Then I stuffed the owl with cut up plastic bags and sewed the hole shut. Then I had a cute little ornament for a friend who loves owls.




















I used this same method to make lots of
ornaments for family and friends.











Use your imagination and create all kinds of different animals or objects for people you know!  -Kristen

Birthday Tie Shirt

For E's first birthday, I wanted to decorate a shirt for him. I decided on making a tie and tried to stick to his Winter ONEderland party theme. I used a Gerber long sleeve onesie, some scrap fabric (I used old t-shirts), and coordinating thread.







First I made my tie template. I drew it by hand and just kind of guessed out the length. Then I cut out the two tie pieces.





















Then I cut out a one in a different fabric and sewed it on.
Then I hand-sewed some snowflakes on the tie.















Then I sewed the tie to the shirt. I sewed the top piece on first, as close to the neckline as I could get, leaving the bottom unconnected from the shirt. Then I stuck the bottom piece slightly under the top piece and sewed them both down (piercing both pieces of fabric and the shirt all at the same time). Putting the top piece over the bottom piece, rather than just using one piece, gives it a bit more realistic look. Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of this step.













Then I sewed around the rest of the tie. That's a it! A cute little tie shirt for a Winter ONEderland first birthday!





Almost every that saw E at his party thought I had bought the shirt! They also told me I should make and sell them. So - if you know of a kiddo who is about to have a birthday and could use a tie shirt (or some other type of shirt for a girl), let me know and we could work something out for the theme and age!

-Kristen

Glitterize!

I have never been much of a glitter girl. But recently, I just want to put it on everything! Well, I live with two males, so I can't glitterize too much, but I did glitterize a pair of my shoes. I wasn't sure how it would turn out, so I used an old pair of shoes, but I'd love to try this on a new pair of shoes.





For this project, I made my own decoupage glue. This glue can be used in place of Mod Podge in many projects. I had less than half a bottle of Elmer's glue, so I just used that. You could use a separate container if needed.

Simply add an equal amount of water to the glue, close the cap, and SHAKE! Then you're ready to use it! It can be stored in the glue bottle. Just shake prior to each use.








Gather your supplies: Homemade decoupage glue (you could also use Mod Podge), glitter, your shoes, a paint brush, and a paper plate, some newspaper, or a surface you don't mind getting glitter and possibly glue on. Then you're ready to begin!

First, decide which part of your shoes you want glitter on. I didn't do this, but you will probably want to tape off the area. If I ever do this again, I will definitely tape off the area to prevent the glitter from going away from where I planned for it to be. Painters or masking tape should work well.

Then put your homemade decoupage glue on the area you want to glitterize, using your paintbrush to cover the area evenly. Then let the glue dry.

Once dry, apply more glue, and then apply the glitter generously while the glue is wet. Let dry overnight for best results. A few hours will work in a pinch.

Then apply more glue and more glitter. Let dry overnight.

Then coat your glitter with more decoupage glue. Let dry and apply one or two more coats (drying in between). Then you will have a gorgeously glitterized pair of shoes! Enjoy!

 You can use this same method to glitterize lots of things! I glitterized a salt dough ornament for my sister for Christmas.

Get glitterizing! -Kristen