Burlap Valentine's Day Banner

*Ignore that this banner is a) grammatically incorrect (promise that was on purpose) and
b) all alone up there right now :)

I debated whether or not I would/should make and put up Valentine's Day decorations around our house since we'll be moving just a few days after. I finally decided over the weekend that I needed to for a couple really good reasons, and it won't be too much trouble to pack it all up. I made this simple Valentine's Day banner from burlap and foam letter stamps hot glued onto twine. I love how it turned out.
The burlap is really inexpensive and my foam letter stamps I used a 50% off coupon a few months back at Joann and got them for around $7 or so and have used them a couple times already. I just used good ole acrylic paint found at my local Walmart and twine I already had on had that was originally from Walmart too. I used another V-day decoration for my heart stencils and other foam hearts from Target's $1 section for the pink hearts.
Happy Valentine's Day :)

Linking up to:
Sew Can Do
Keeping it Simple
Skip to my Lou
It's So Very Cheri
Making the World Cuter
Sumo's Sweet Stuff

*Brittney*

Me and my guns... and a V-day craft :)

Watch out!
(Don't mess with me!)

My sweet husband took most of the week off for my b-day, and while we had some time to kill together, he took me out to the shooting range after purchasing a new little gun that he says is "for me"...yeah right. I did really like it though! I have only ever shot once or twice before, so I'm no pro (although I think I've got pretty good aim!) but when I pulled out my GLUE GUN today I knew I could handle it :) Most importantly...for my b-day he got me a Silhouette! I'm SO excited! My birthday wish came true, which is why last week I didn't do much in the way of crafts, hoping that if I held off I would have an extra special "helper". Here is my first project using my Silhouette, my glue gun, and these *flexing biceps* guns! ( I couldn't help myself, I'm sorry) ;)

*NOTICE-my "be mine" blocks? I made a new saying out of these blocks!*

A couple weeks back I found this really cute Valentine's Day Countdown at Katie's Nesting Spot that I wanted to try for myself, I used my Silhouette to cut the numbers (from fabric) out after I used heat n' bond on them. worked like a charm! Apparently Silhouette just came out with a new product to use for cutting fabric, but I did it without the new product and it worked!

I'd still like to embellish it a little, but here's the basic idea. Each numbered heart is a little pocket that I can put a note, activity or treat in for my kids to make the anticipation of V-day a little more fun.

I think I'm in LOVE (no pun intended, well....maybe?) with the Silhouette! Of course you could do this project with a Cricut or no machine at all by just cutting out your numbers :)

*Brittney*
Linking up to:
Sew Can Do
Keeping it Simple
Skip to my Lou
It's So Very Cheri
Making the World Cuter
Sumo's Sweet Stuff

Ador-A-Bows Boutique Giveaway Winner!

Happy Monday! Hope you all had a great weekend :) Monday's are the pits sometimes, so here's a little pick-me-up for one lucky follower-

The winner of the Ador-A-Bows Boutique Giveaway is:

(Via Random.org)

#2 Nancy from Nancy's Couture!

Congrats Nancy! Katherine will be contacting you soon :)

*Brittney*

Ador-A-Bows Boutique GIVEAWAY!!!

******This Giveaway is now closed******
I have a fabulous giveaway for you! My friend Katherine from Ador-A-Bows makes the CUTEST, and most CREATIVE bows I've ever seen. I'm usually a good copy cat, but her stuff is really unique. She calls it "Ribbon Art", and that it is :) I asked her if she'd be so kind as to offer a giveaway and she said yes! Lucky you!
Ador-A-Bows has lots of everyday use bows to choose from:

And remember that Ribbon Art I was talking about...
Amazing, right!? I wish I could pull these princess clips off! Good thing I've got a 4 year old little girl around! It's ok to live vicariously through my children, right?
Valentines Day is just around the corner and Ador-A-Bows has got plenty of choices for a little V-day frill

Ador-A-Bows Boutique is giving away 1 FREE item of your choice!

Here's how to enter: * Leave a separate comment here for each*
1)Go over to Ador-A-Bows Facebook page, and "Like" it.
2)Become a follower of Brittney's Budget Crafts, if you're already a follower, just say so in your comment :)
Easy peasy!

This giveaway will end on Monday January 24th, 2011 at 12:00pm EST...Good luck!

*Brittney*
Linked up to Someday Crafts

Rosette Necklace TUTORIAL

Last night I made a rosette necklace, and today I whipped one up for my little girl and made a tutorial for those that want to make one of their own. I promise this is SO easy, this tutorial is a mini version of the one I made for ^myself, but you would do the exact same thing, just adding a few more rosettes, and if you like the different sizes, you can play around with that part. Let's get started!

What you'll need:
*Chain- doesn't need fasteners *you can also use ribbon and save a few steps!*
*hot glue gun/glue sticks
*scraps of felt and fabric for rosettes ( I recommend staying away from stretchy stuff, although it will still work)
*sew on snap.
Optional-rhinestones/pearls/beads...for center of flowers
*Scissors

Step 1:
Using any scraps of material, cut into 1 inch strips (no need to measure, just cut, you can't go wrong) This one shown is about 18 inches long, it makes a medium size rosette. Cut longer or shorter strips depending on how big or small you want your flowers.Step 2: Start at one end of your strip and roll the end up, then start twisting your strip and roll the twisted fabric around the center. Hopefully the picture makes more sense than my explanation. :)
Step 3:
Use your hot glue as you twist and roll to secure the fabric. I usually glue an inch at a time, then twist and roll to make sure it's secure, and the shape I want.
Step 4:
Once you get to the last inch or so, give it a little hot glue and glue that to the underside of your now, "flower".
Like so...
Step 5: Repeat until you have as many rosettes as you'd like for your necklace. This one I made for Skylee I chose to do 3, mine has 8 of varying sizes.
Step 6: Lay out how you want your rosettes to fit together and hot glue them onto your piece of felt in that pattern.
Step 7: Cut the felt around the flowers, careful not to cut your rosettes :)

This is how it should look on the backside:Step 8: Take your chain, or ribbon and measure around your neck, or your model's, how long you want your necklace to be. Then cut ribbon/chain (using wire cutters or whatever else you have). I had a long chain and needed it cut down. If using ribbon, cut two strips of the ribbon, making sure you have enough to tie a bow.
Step 9: Hot glue one end of the chain to the backside of the rosettes, on the felt. I didn't take a picture, but I cut a little piece of felt to put on top of the chain too where it was glued, not mandatory though. If you're using ribbon, glue one piece of ribbon to each side and tie a bow behind your neck to put it on :)
Step 10: Get your sew on snaps and secure one of the pieces to the felt, on the opposite side from where you just glued the chain down.
You can chose to hand stitch or hot glue this piece on. This picture shows I stitched it on, but if you notice, I did it upside down! I took it off and then used hot glue. :)
Step 11: on the other end of your chain, hand stitch the other piece of your snap!
Step12: Add your rhinestones or other embellishments with a dab of hot glue and try it on!
Let me know if you have any questions, hope you love your necklace! Good luck :)

*Brittney*
Linked up to:
Be Different, Act Normal
Keeping it Simple

Rosette Necklace and Pillow

I loved making that felt flower pillow, I'm thinking of other places in my house that could use one. Dressing up my couch just that small bit, inspired me to keep going. I made up a simple blue pillow this evening after my kiddos went to sleep. The pillow is just dandy and all, but I love this necklace I made from the scraps of this material.


You can expect to see LOTS of these from me, probably in every color! With exception to the rhinestones, the materials I used to make the necklace, I already had...Love that!

Anyone interested in a tutorial? For the necklace, that is :)

Good grief, it's midnight here and I'm blogging about crafts! What has become of me?!

*Brittney*

Felt Flower Pillow

I consider each of my readers and followers my friends, so I need you to keep a secret. I'm pretty confident my husband doesn't really read this little blog of mine, at least I hope he doesn't read this post ;)
I love my husband, really, I'm very blessed. I won't tell you all he does, you'd be jealous, then we might not be as good of friends as I hope! haha. His job in the Coast Guard makes it so he's away a fair amount, especially at night. Before I found the wonderful world of craft blogging, and before I actually started trying to re-create projects I saw, I would sit at home like a sad puppy dog every time he left for a few days at a time. ( I know, I'm pathetic, even after years of it!) When he was gone, I would watch some t.v., stuff my face with something chocolate, catch up on my family blog (failing in that dept right now!), nothing really exciting or productive...Now that I have a craft to-do list, there are always things I'm trying to find time for and I've found that days and nights that my husband isn't here, make the perfect time for projects! Now, I'm still a sad puppy dog when he leaves, but I don't sit around anymore(usually) eating bon bons(not that there's anything wrong with that) I have things to do!
This is what I did this evening: A Felt Flower Pillow, I first saw it over at The Crafting Chicks
I've never had pretty pillows on my couches, but my world has changed, it adds more than I thought it would! I'm so happy with how it turned out, I feel like making 10 more but that would be overkill. One pretty pillow for my couches down, a few more to go :) Go check out the tutorial, it's great!!
2 post in 1 day?! Man, I'm chatty!
Have a GREAT 3 day weekend!

*Brittney*

Help!

(don't worry, no need to call 911)

2011 is anticipated to be a CRAZY year for our family! I'm so excited with all the changes we're expecting, and no...I'm not pregnant :) We are moving. Clear. across. the. country....literally...very soon (pray for me), being separated from my husband for months(making me a semi-single mother, for who knows how long), living with family, and then moving AGAIN where we hope to *fingers crossed* buy our FIRST HOME!
Exciting, and scary things all at the same time. My point, you ask?
Is it strange that I'm really sad that for a good portion of the year, I won't have a home that I can decorate?!
While there is "light at the end of the tunnel" with buying a home of our own later in the year, it just makes me sad to think I can't really make much in the way of house decor, or things in general to make the place "ours". sigh.
Why do I think these things through so much anyway? Why is making "stuff"(or the lack thereof) even something on my radar with SO many other details that need to be worked out? With so many other adjustments me and my family will have to make, why am I thinking of decorating?!
Illness? Maybe passion? Probably illness ;) If/when I do make something, it will just be one more thing to have to pack up and move again. nobody likes that part. nobody. And if you do, then there's no question you have an illness. ( I recommend getting help, or helping me do the packing and moving!)

Here's where you come in- I need ideas for my kids, and myself for that matter, for traveling. We'll be spending 4 Looooooooooonnnnnnnnnnnggggggggggg days in the car driving from the coast of Georgia, to the coast of California. My kids are young, 4 years, and not quite 2 years yet. I've got the movies handled with the DVD player in my car, but I'd prefer my kids not going brain dead because of constant movies for 4 days. I don't have that many movies anyhow, and my kids don't have that attention span either :)
So send me links, or leave me comments with ideas of things we can do in the car, or things I can make to make the trip easier. Anything!
Help!
please :)

*Brittney*

P.S. Coping suggestions are welcome as well, for my lack of crafting crisis. Sympathy works too ;)

A Doll for Skylee

When was the last time your house was totally clean, AND the laundry was done? On second thought, maybe I don't want to know ;) Monday, a miracle happened at my house and that was just the case! Last week Sew Much Ado had the Ruby Lou Doll pattern 50% off, and I couldn't resist. When I didn't have the guilt hanging over me of needing to clean or do laundry, I knew it was the perfect time to give this doll pattern a go! Now, hopefully my version isn't the first you've seen of these cute dolls, but if it is...go over and see how much cuter they're suppose to be ;)
I made her out of scrap materials I already had. Instead of muslin for the body, I used old white cotton t-shirts. Her clothes were all made from other pieces of clothing as well. Her hair is made of felt, a color I already had, her face...well those are my sorry "embroidery" skills (without embroidery thread). As Tim Gunn says "make it work"!
The most important thing of course, whatever project I make for Skylee, is that she loves it. No matter what imperfections there may be (there are plenty!) she doesn't know, and loves it just the same. For this four year old, any doll that wears a skirt, is awesome! I plan to make more of these, maybe as friends for this first one, or gift for other little girls I know. Hopefully I'll get better with practice!
*Brittney*

Improvising

Hello again :)

Last week while blog-hopping, I found this cute tutorial and really wanted to try it. Then I got a great idea in the shower (the only place/time I have to myself, I'm sure you can relate :) ) to make the pom poms interchangeable. I got this gray sweater on sale at Target and wanted to wear my pink high heals to church, and figured I could make the pom pom necklace to match.
Late Saturday night, after the kids went to sleep, I started making the pom pom necklace using fabric I had from an old shirt of mine. It was going really well until I tried to make it interchangeable, totally my fault. So my idea hasn't worked, yet. I still needed something to go with my shoes though, and I had just made the 5 pom poms, so I put them together and pinned it on my shirt as a brooch-like accessory. For the center I used some rhinestones for sparkle. It was not at all what I originally wanted, but for the few hours at church, it worked. I'll admit I did try to cover it with my hair so no one would inspect it too much. lol. I don't plan on using it again, but I had fun learning how to make the pom poms :) I'll get back to ya when I figure out how to make the interchangeable necklace work!

Cute shoes though, right!?

*Brittney*

Linked up to: Little Miss Momma

Crayon Rolls

Happy New Year! I hope your holidays were more merry than ours, we were all sick with the flu :( BUT, we still had a nice Christmas and I love any excuse to cuddle my kids. I was SOoooo grateful that I had finished gift shopping, grocery shopping and baking when it hit me, so at least we had presents and food covered! We were feeling better by NYE, and had a fun time with friends.
I've been so good this year, organizing and cleaning out our home's inventory, even my craft supplies ( a daunting task at times)! Going through everything made me realize how many supplies I already had that I needed to use, which sent my mind on a thinking-spree of ideas I could do. These crayon rolls have been on my to-do list for sometime, and since they take very limited supplies, I already had everything to make them (LOVE that)! I used the tutorial over at The Pleated Poppy and it was great! I highly recommend it, and the rest of the site is fun too!
I made one for Skylee and one for Parker, they think they're pretty awesome, even though Skylee's is way messed up. lol :) For Parker's I used two leftover receiving blankets from this project. For Skylee's crayon roll I used a pair of pants and a skirt that I picked up at Goodwill, because I liked the material/pattern a while back. I even used one of those little button kits for the first time on Skylee's, sometimes it's seems silly the things I've never tried.
I figured I'd reserve these for when we're on the go, but the kids liked them so much, they spent the evening coloring. If only I could make them something everyday to ensure their happiness ;)

*Brittney*