Quick and easy garland

I made this little garland to hang from a shelf at the office. It was so quick and easy, but looks so cute.

I just put some holes in a few playing cards and ran some twine through them. Then I tied short pieces of various ribbons in between cards. Done!

I put it up for Valentine's Day (I put the queen of hearts in the middle), but it could be for just about anything depending on the ribbon. And what a great way to use up little bits of leftover ribbon!

From sweater to pillow

Some time ago I watched a video where the speaker was talking about finding usable fabric in unusual places. Since I live in a small town and fabric stores are few, I took this to heart. When I'm out at the thrift stores, I look at things a little differently now. 

So, I found this cute little sweater and thought it would make a great pillow for Valentine's Day.

I left the side seams in, cut off the top (including sleeves), stitched the top and bottom closed, and stuffed that baby. 

I think it turned out pretty cute......if I do say so myself.

It's a lot fun to look at things a little differently. Give it a try.

A quick Valentine

I've been busy today making these hearts.

How cute is that? It's a tiny little heart, only about an inch. And the best part is,.,,,it's so quick and easy!!

You can find the instructions here.

Now go make some!!

Spoiling my pets

I thought I was just going to be spoiling the cats, but that's not how it turned out.

I made some felt catnip toys for them for Valentine's Day.

The first one I made was this red heart. I used scalloping shears to cut it out, stitched around the edges, and stuffed with some polyfil and fresh catnip. The cats loved it!

 

Then I stitched this one from some scrap felt that I had. It also has the polyfil and fresh catnip. And, once again, the cats loved it.

The problem is that the dogs loved them too! The dogs managed to get hold of both of them and got them all slobbery and wet before tearing them up. Who knew dogs love catnip too?!

Valentine Cards

I just love all of the options out there now days for things. Thank you internet!!!


Have you looked at some of the cards on Etsy?


This one made me ACTUALLY laugh out loud.

It's from the shop Julie Ann Art and you can find this card here. She's got a lot of other cards, too.

I've seen several others that are just too funny. I just love the simplicity of this card.

Heart Garland

Here's another quick project that I did.

I just took some scrapbook paper and glued two sheets together so that I had a pattern on both sides of my heart. (If I had been willing to make a trip to the craft store, I could have bought a single sheet of double sided paper.)

Anyway, I made this using my newly formed double sided paper and it only took one 12 X 12 sheet to make all of those hearts. I just cut the paper into strips about an inch wide. I didn't do any kind of exact measuring.

Then I folded the strips in half to make the point on the heart.

After that I just folded them in towards the center and glued the two sides together in the middle to make the heart shape. 

Once they had all dried I hot glued them together and just used my string to hang them on either side and across the middle. Here's a close-up:

I like the way it turned out, but I think there needs to be more stuff up there to keep them company.  Don't you?

Quick Crafting

I just love things that come together quickly and are easy to make. Don't you? It's like instant gratification and that's often hard to find in the crafting world. At least in my crafting world anyway. lol


Anyway, I made this over the weekend.

 Okay, it wasn't over the WHOLE weekend.

It was over about 5 minutes of the weekend.

And most of that time was spent trying to find where I put the scrabble letters. LOL

But I think my little cross stitch bunny is happy with it. :0)

Valentine Sewing

I did actually get something completed over the weekend. I was glad that it was actually warm enough to get back out to my little space and get some sewing done.

This is from a cute little mini quilt kit that I ordered from Daisy Cottage Quilting.

I just love Sharon's stuff. We seem to have just about the same taste so I need for her to quit getting new things in because I can't keep up. LOL

Oh, and I appologize for the pictures. I finished sewing the binding on while I was waiting for Addison at soccer practice and I was taking the pictures out in the parking lot at the park. I'm sure the other people around wondered what the heck I was up to! Crazy lady alert!! LOL

I have to say though, that when I finished the top I showed to my husband and he couldn't see the heart shapes made by the squares. I had to actually fold it up so that only one little red heart was showing before he got it. Then, I showed it to all the girls and asked them what it was. They all immediately said 'Hearts.' Then, I showed it to my son and he said they were red 'V's'. So, I guess the males in my house have no imagination or something? Or maybe they just need things spelled out for them a little more clearly? I dunno'.

Valentine Stitching

I've been doing a little Valentine stitching.

This is a pattern from Chestnut Junction. It's a redwork stitchery pattern that I tweaked a little bit. The original pattern is all stitching. I decided to add the felt hearts and buttons instead of stitaching those. I used a piece of fabric to stitch on that I had tea stained and I used fabrics I already had on hand to do the piecing around it.

I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. And again, I had everythin on hand already.

Go Thrift!! lol

Valentine's on my mind....

I'm already thinking about Valentine's Day. Is that some kind of sickness? Do I need to take some time in between holidays instead of just rushing on to the next one?

Regardless, I have a work in progress and I'm really liking the way it's turning out.

But, yesterday I got up earlier than anyone else in my house so I snuck out to my craft room.

I say 'snuck' because if anyone knows I'm going out there, they can't stay away. I've asked more than  once if there is some kind of alarm that goes off in the house when my butt hits the chair in my craft room. They keep telling me there isn't one, but I'm not convinced yet.

Anyway, I spent some time out there tinkering and came away with this:

It's always so exciting to sit down and work on something and actually come away with a finished product.

We all need a quick project thrown in every now and then.

It's even better that I already had all of the items on hand. I used jump rings to make the chain and the hearts are buttons. It makes me want to get in there and make more, which my girls have all asked for anyway. :0)

Valentine's for school

The kids made these last night to hand out in their classes.

I would like to take credit for this idea but I got it from Erin. 

Aren't they hysterical?

I just love them!!

Valentine attempt

I had seen these cute valentine ideas on Tip Junkie and decided they would be great to make for the kids' classes at school.




Unfortunately, I waited until the last minute to even attempt them. I ended up not making them for the classes. I still think they're cute so I'll try for next year. I need time to work out the best plastic to use, good layout for the maze, etc., etc. I gave the four I made to the kids and they think they're great. :0) It's so good to have little fans of just about anything around. lol

Hope everyone has a Happy Valentine's Day. It's not a day that Dax & I go out of our way to celebrate. I told him long ago that I prefer to be treated well everyday and in return for that we can let Valentine's Day go by without much hooplah. lol

A Quickie

I stitched this little heart for someone as a surprise. (I'm trying to buy her forgiveness for not getting the Christmas card in the mail. --- No, I'm not above bribery if it helps. lol)



I put it in the mail yesterday. I hope she likes it.

I just stitched the heart on some tea stained fabric with purple thread (she loves purple). I couldn't decide how to finish it off. I fretted about it for a week at least. Then I decided to sew it onto a piece of cardstock. Then on the back I put a phrase about love. I figured that would be good to have out for Valentine's Day. I took some purple wire and ran through some little holes that I made and twisted the wire around to hold it all in place. It was really quick and easy and I'm pleased with how it turned out. Hmmm.....I may have to keep that in mind for making other similar things.