From the Archives // Handmade Valentine Projects

Itchin' for a Valentine's Day DIY Project? Here are a few that I pulled from the archives. Some can go beyond V-Day… I have that Instagram Heart hanging up in my house year-round. There's a little something for everyone-- from decorating the mantel, to making a crafty wreath, to designing a fashionable heart top. Happy creating!

Click "Read more" for the Tutorial Links 

Happy Chinese New Year!

free dragon printable via craft jr.

Do you believe in horoscopes? I don't really, but when last year's prediction included stuff like-- watch out for your health, lay low and hunker down, and don't invest in anything because you'll probably lose your shirt (not in exactly those words, but you get the drift)-- it's not a big surprise that I was kinda happy to see the Year of the Snake end. And Snake… really?? I mean, you may as well just call it Year of the Big Hairy Spider… Bleh. So I'm happy to usher in the Year of the Horse!

Since my MIL is Chinese-- via Hong Kong and Peking (Beijing), we rang in the New Year with a family dinner and some good Chinese grub. According to my MIL, it is Chinese tradition to celebrate New Year's Eve with family over a lot of good food. Or as she puts it… The family that eats together, stays together. True that. I'm not sure if we ate all of the "traditional" foods, but there was a lot of seafood, noodles and some of the stuff that you typically see at Chinese banquets. Yum, yum and yum.

I'm still stuffed. My New Year's resolutions, Part II starts tomorrow.  :)

Have a great weekend!!!

From the Archives // Valentine's Day Projects for Kids

Over the past few years I've made Valentine's Day Cards for my kids to hand out to their classmates. It started out as something fun to do… Remember when those 3D photo cards came out? I think I first saw them in 2009. Then I started to get a little more creative and personalize the cards to what my kids were into at the time. The last couple of years it's all about sugar-free Valentine treats. Our school has all the kids from the same grade exchange Valentines… When everyone gives candy, it seriously feels like Halloween in February. Our little sugar-free treats just balance out all the candy, or in the case of the party blower, probably enhance the sugar high!  ;)

It was fun to look at all of these again… Like a walk down memory lane! 

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Make // Party Blower Valentine's Day Cards- Free Printable

Last week I shared my 7-year old's Mustache Valentine's Day cards for his 2nd grade class. Today, I'm sharing my 5-year old's cards for his Kindergarten class--

To know my 5-year old is to love him. In our family, he's the life of the party. We'll probably have to worry about that more later on, but right now he's all about squawking loud noises, confetti and dancing around like a lunatic basically having a good time. So Party Blower Valentines are not only apropos, but kind of necessary.

 Click "Read more" for the Free Printable & Tutorial

Make // Mustache Valentine's Day Cards - Free Printable

We're no strangers to mustaches around here-- see our funny lil' man party  and cowboy party. Since they are fun and also a sugar-free option, I thought we'd incorporate them into my 7-year old's class Valentine's Day cards. I made a couple of versions.

One that's a straightforward declaration…

And another that's more for the faint of heart (aka, one that won't embarrass a 2nd grade boy)...

Click "Read more" for the free printable cards

Friday Favorites // 12.20.13

Five more days until Christmas... Wow. Really. I better get a move on!

Here are a few things that caught my eye this week--

this snowflake table runner

via art bar as seen on you are my fave

gotta keep the boys busy on monday and tuesday... this may be just the craft!

Click "Read more" for the full post

Make // Pleather Bows & Other Gift Wrap

PLEATHER... Great for decorating your presents AND your friends!

who knew??!!

Click "Read more" for the tutorial

Make // Alcohol Ink Ornaments

This tutorial first appeared as part of Under the Table & Dreaming's 4th Annual Handmade Ornament Series. 

I discovered Alcohol Ink over the summer while I was coming up with ideas for restyling these recyclable glass bottles. The look was so iridescent and eye-catching that I knew that it would be the perfect treatment for simple glass ornaments. 

Flash forward six months and it was finally time to try my hand at decorating glass ornaments. I played around a bit and came up with four different, yet simple techniques. While they look a little labor intensive, they are surprisingly easy to make and not too messy (as long as you keep the ink off your clothes!).

Click "Read more" for the tutorial

Friday Favorites // 12.13.13

Ooh, Friday the 13th! I love it. And it's the hub's birthday... I love it even more! Thirteen is a lucky number in this household.

Here are some of the things that grabbed my interest this week--

this White Ornamental Kale with Green Polka Dots

found at Trader Joes-- 3 stalks for $4.99!

Click "read more" for the full post

Our Lives // Christmas Decorations and Mini-Makeover

Okay, seriously? Where did last week go? Did Thanksgiving just come and go, just like that? Lets just say it was a busy, yet productive, week for us.

I started off the week by hosting a breakfast meeting for my fellow school board members. I'm not a baker, but I've been wanting to make these yummy cinnamon rolls. They came out pretty good, but somehow I forgot to serve the fruit and juices that I had chilled in the refrigerator. Oops. I've been extra spacey these days so I blame it on either my allergies or my allergy medication. I'm not ready to go with the "getting old" excuse quite yet. :)

So, besides pretending to be a baker, I also put up the Christmas decorations and hung some much needed art on our blank walls.

We've been in this house for four years so I really don't have a good excuse for blank walls. I'm just pickier with each passing year, I guess... Probably as a result of my past rash decorating decisions. I've "donated" a bunch of decorative items that we bought on whim for our old house. My hubs is of the "If there's space... Fill it!" school of thought. As a newlywed, I was less particular and too busy with work to focus on particulars, so I just went with it. Also, that was way before blogs, Pinterest and other influencers... I really had no sense of my own style way back then! Flash forward ten years and NOW I care and am picky to the point of paralysis. I'm not sure what's better-- Buy and regret? Or not buy and suffer from decorating paralysis?

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Make // Cork Tree

Before I sneak off for the Thanksgiving holiday, I thought I'd leave you a fun tree tutorial. All you need is a little cork, glue and a tree form.

I love the color and texture of cork and this little tree fits in perfectly with my existing collection of cream, gray and natural-colored decorative trees.

Click "Read more" for the tutorial

Make // Faux Fur Frame

Here's an easy way to change up your decor with a little glue and faux fur. I've been a little enamored with faux fur lately and have added it to our family room decor-- fluffy pillow, fluffy throw, even a fluffy rug. This little fluffy white faux fur frame fits right in and adds enough whimsy without being gaudy. It's perfect for the upcoming winter months!

click "read more" for the tutorial

Make // Light-up Bejeweled Ornament

When I initially started dreaming-up this ornament, I wanted to use pearl and rhinestone brooches and other luxe-looking jewelry pieces. But after a couple years of pricing new and vintage jewels, I knew that one expensive $50-$100 ornament wasn't going to make the cut. If I'm going to spend that much money, I'd rather just buy a collector's piece.

Then, on a recent trip to the craft store, I came across a large package of pretty jewelry-quality beads. With their translucent qualities,  I knew exactly what I wanted to do with them.

I was the kid who couldn't get enough of  Lite-Brite... In my book, it's so much better if it lights up! :)

Click "Read more" for the full post

Make // Faux Fur Trees

Ah yes... Are those sleigh bells I hear? Has Christmas sprung up overnight in about every retail spot that I inhabit? Except Costco, who thought it was okay to bring out the holiday cheer in August when my kids were still on summer vacation? Ahem. Yes my friends... It's that's time of year again.

I waited until All Hallows Eve was over and, although I love Thanksgiving and will honor that fine holiday with lots of good company and good eats, it's time to get BUSY!  Because Christmas will be here soon.

Stress and Excitement. That's what I'm all about.

Since I've been building a forest tree collection for the past several years (see most of them here), I thought I'd start with some pretty, soft and texturally awesome Faux Fur Trees.

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Plans for Christmas 2013 Decor...

It's November. Halloween is officially over. I'm gonna go out on a limb and declare that it is now officially okay to start talking Christmas... Mmm-kay?

When I look back upon my last few years of holiday projects, I noticed that each year I tend to focus on a particular material or style.

Christmas 2010 was white felt and silver paint-- It was my first year trying to revitalize our old, tired Christmas decorations.


Christmas 2011 was all things smooth and shiny-- pearls, satin, glass.


Christmas 2012 was natural materials and colors-- burlap, muslin and mother of pearl.


So what's in store for 2013?

Christmas 2013 is going to be the year of faux fur, leather (or pleather) and... metal hardware. Haven't quite figured out how I'm going to fit this in, but... Hey, that's part of the challenge!

Faux Fur Trees coming up soon...

Make // Fabric Pinecone - Pleather & Faux Fur

If you like to craft, but aren't quite ready to go THERE with Holiday projects (I'm with ya, I get anxious just thinking of the holiday madness), then these little pinecones are the perfect project for you. They're great to use in Fall decor and can easily transition over to the winter holidays. I've made several variations over the years--

scalloped lace pinecone | felt pinecone | muslin fabric pinecone | toile fabric pinecone

While these look similar in shape to the toile fabric pinecone, this time I streamlined the process and also experimented with different textures; Bring on the Faux Fur and Pleather!!!

Click "Read more" for the tutorial

[Make] An A-MAZE-ING Valentine

Is it amazing?  Well... no, not really. But it has a maze... bah-dah-dum.   :)

These are the class valentines that I made for my 1st grader. It was a bit of a last-minute thing, but I think it works. I had something else in mind, but waited too long and couldn't find what I needed in our local stores. Bummer! Ah well... next year I'll plan better. Thank goodness he's not too picky about these kind of things.

Click "Read more" for the free printable

[Make] Decorative Heart Box #2

Last week I shared the tutorial for the 3-dimensional heart box. Next up is this brass chevron heart box. I really wanted something modern, clean... and shiny. I think this hits all points. 

Click "Read more" for the tutorial

[Make] Sequined Heart

While cleaning up my craft supplies (yep, still working on organizing), I found a small foam heart that was half-decorated then abandoned. If my guess-timation is correct, it's been sitting in it's half-done state for about 15 years. Yikes... Definitely time to make something with it! So I removed the previous decoration and started fresh.

I usually stay away from the traditional pink and red hearts, but I still wanted something colorful and fun. I think the candy-colored sequins do the trick!

glitzy!

Click "Read more" for the details.

[Make] Decorative Heart Box #1

While browsing the aisles of a craft store (my favorite past-time) I found some papier mache heart boxes. They are sturdy and just the right size to hold a small gift (Valentine's teacher's gift perhaps?) or to use as a trinket box. I purposely tried to make them timeless so, although Valentine's Day is looming, no pink or red on these hearts!

I get fidgety when I have to make the same thing twice, so they are all quite different. After pondering a few of my favorite things-- shiny metallics, wood, geometric shapes, burlap, succulents-- here's what I ended up with...

First up is this 3-dimensional heart box:

Click "Read more" for the tutorial