Kids Craft: Ballerina Puppets and Stage

It's a strange day here in our household, only Parker and I are at home...Skylee started her very first day of school. ever. :( All last week we were getting things ready for her to start, which included a special skirt and matching headband made my me. I figure there are only so many years I can get away with these things, so I must take advantage! While I was working away on her skirt, she asked if she could do a craft too. Since I don't have all my craft supplies with me, I had to do something really simple, but she's been loving it and playing with it ever since.

We took a shoe box and turned it into a stage, then I cut out ballerina silhouettes with "leg holes" for her to color and decorate. Since I was working with pink tulle, she put "tutus" on some of her ballerinas , and although she didn't, it would be fun to decorate the stage too!She had a lot of fun, and thought I'd share it for those of you who may have little ones around who want to feel included in your crafting :). It was a great way to keep her busy, creative, and out of my hair ;) This can be modified to be anything or anyone with legs :) The only downside to doing ballerinas was that they couldn't really spin :(

(backstage)
Hope you're all having a great week! I'll be taking advantage of the time I have on my hands to play with Parker and get my house in order!

*Brittney*

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*

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*

Tutorial: Scripture tote

If you're scrambling for a last minute gift for your daughter, mother, sister, or friend, this is a simple but useful homemade one. The first one I ever made was actually for a boy, so if there's a guy in your life who could use one, give it a try using appropriate colors/ribbon(handle material) and embellishments! Sorry for all the super bright pics, I didn't have a chance to edit them and I knew if I didn't post this while I had the chance, it probably wouldn't happen :)
Materials Needed:
1 placemat
2 yards of ribbon
needle (or hot glue gun) and matching thread
flower/other embellishments
Directions:
1. Lay placemat horizontally and place your ribbon 2-3 inches from the side in straight line, and sew down both side of your ribbon.
2. Repeat on the other side, just make sure to use the same measurements.

3. Decide how long you want your handles and pin them on the opposite side (wrong side/inside) of the placemat. Turn under about an inch of the ribbon from the bottom to reinforce and keep from the ribbon fraying. Sew each side of your handles on. Make sure to reinforce or sew over a couple times so it's nice and strong! Nobody likes breaking handles ;)
4. Fold placemat in half, so handles meet, and sew a straight line down each side5. Fold your corners the opposite way so it looks like this: (kinda hard to put into words, or it's just late and I need sleep)
6. Sew a straight line across your corner, about 2 inches down from the tip.
7. This is what the bottom should look like after you sew the corners:
8. You're almost done! Sewing is out of the way, easy right?! Now turn your tote right side out, and add embellishments.

9. For silk flowers, I take them apart, completely discard the plastic parts, then reassemble the layers again. Hand stitch your flower on the front of your tote. On this tote, I added a pearl for the center which can be hand stitched, or hot glued on there. I've even hot glued my flowers on, but if you do that, glue each layer one at a time.
There are endless possibilities, have fun!
Merry Christmas :)
Linking up to:
Keeping it simple
Craftastic Monday- Sew Can Do
*Brittney*

Rustic Wire Pumpkin

Maybe I'm the only one here, but I tend to get all excited to decorate my house when seasons/holidays change, go up to the attic to pull down my boxes and find that I really only have one whimpy little box, with hardly anything inside to decorate with! I have visions of my house looking amazing, and then I get a reality check! Bummer...but that's all the more reason to MAKE stuff, right!? No doubt this will happen when Christmas rolls around too, maybe I should start to emotionally/mentally prepare myself now!
While cruising the isles of Target last week I found some cute little rustic looking pumpkins. So simple, yet so stylish, and you can never have too many pumpkins!!!The next day while blog-hopping I came across this tutorial from The Hand Me Down House featured on Someday Crafts and KNEW it was just meant to be!
I knew I wanted to make mine a little different so I bought some wired jute/twine (found it at Micheal's) and used all 50ft of it for one bigger pumpkin. I really like how it turned out. Not too bad for $2, and let me tell you...ANYONE can do this! So simple, my favorite kind of projects ;)
Now go make one!...or two...or three...
Fall officially will be here NEXT WEEK!
****Update****
I've had a few people e-mail me about where I found the wire...I found it at Micheal's but when I search for it online it doesn't come up their site. I searched online for this stuff and you'll have a few options if you call it "Rustic Wire". Hope this helps :)

*Brittney*

Henri Lou Inspired Bracelet

Looking for the 100 Follower Giveaway? Go HERE (now closed)

Photo from Henri Lou website

Happy Labor Day! Anyone hittin' up some of the big sales today?! Hope you've been enjoying your holiday weekend :)
Last week while watching some TV, and folding laundry (of course), I saw these bracelets by Henri Lou, a jewlery high-end jewlery designer. When I saw these I thought "I could totally make that!"- don't you just love those moments? Well, I headed to my local Goodwill and found this U.G.L.Y. belt (for a whopping .99 cents) that I knew would be perfect for my bracelet. I even found a purse that I thought would work for the straps, but it didn't look that great when I made it...anyways... enter Exhibit A:

Then I cut out all the rings and got rid of the rope-ish, ribbon, belt part :)

After a little hot glue and satin ribbon, here is my Henri Lou inspired bracelet:

Henri Lou version- $80
Brittney's version- $3 (and that makes 4!)

Not too shabby :)

*Brittney*

Keeping it Simple
The Girl Creative
It's So Very Cheri
Between Naps on the Porch
Sew Can Do
Mad in Crafts

Baby Onsie

Cut out your design...
Use some Heat n Bond...
Ta-Da!

Don't ask me why I've never tried this kind of project before...maybe I thought it would be more time consuming than it actually is, but I loved making this! This one I just made will be a part of a small baby gift, along with that boppy slipcover from the last post, and this cute "I am a Child of God" framed nursery decor I found on Made with Love and Glue. The possibilities are endless with this stuff, so if you're like me and haven't tried this out before, DO :)