Spiraled Yarn Circle Garland | Two Shades of Pink

 

Make this cute garland by hot gluing yarn to a circle. Hmmm, where can I put this in my house?

Two Shades of Pink: Spiraled Yarn Circle Garland.

Fabric Wrapped Wreath | In Color Order

So you know how those yarn wreaths are too darn cute but take FOREVER to wrap with yarn? Here's an alternative. Wrap it in fabric strips.

In Color Order - Modern Quilting | Sewing Tutorials | Vintage Sheets.

Las Vegas Craft Weekend

Things have been so crazy around here I didn't get a chance to tell you about my trip down to Las Vegas My mom and I put our names in the drawing to go to a Craft Weekend with Meg Deurksen in Kansas and sadly didn't get chosen. So when Gwen and I had planned a trip down to visit my parents my mom naturally made it into our own version of a craft weekend.

My Mom set up their formal dining room as crafting headquarters with a St. Patrick's Day flair. She made that bunting without any sewing involved, that woman can yield a hot glue gun like it's nobody's business.

She has so much stuff that's collected over the years. It was insane how many foam paint brushes, acrylic paints and wood blocks one woman can have. The minute we laid the baby down for a nap we got to crafting.

By the end of the weekend we had managed to make so many things. It was like Pinterest came to life.  My dad got my mom a cricut last October for her birthday and she had yet to use it until that weekend. She broke it in quite well, I must say. We used it for all the wood block projects and surprised ourselves at how nice they came out.

Here are a couple projects we made.

Birthday clipboard inspired by Eighteen25

I read on Twitter one day (I have no clue who posted it it was awhile ago) that the dutch put a calendar filled with birthdays in their bathrooms. It's a great spot where you have to look at it all day everyday. They followed it up with something like, "but you're not tacky enough to do that but follow their lead by doing this instead...." I'm terrible with birthdays. Just ask my nephew who gets his birthday card a week late every year or our two friends who I had planned on making cupcakes for 3 weeks ago. So guess where this bday reminder calendar is hanging? On the wall straight across from the toilet. That's right. My nephew's birthday card was still late but that's just tradition at this point. {cough cough}

 

 

 

 

 

 

Valentine's & St. Patrick's  rotating blocks inspired by Thoughts in Vinyl

Fabric canvas inspired by Whatever

My Dad was cute. He came in and looked at everything we made and oohed and ahhed and then got a little quiet and said, "I understand the blocks and everything else, but I'm sorry, I just don't get these things," pointing to the fabric canvases. We all just laughed because we don't really get them either. They're quirky and fun and that's what matters, right?

Picture block puzzle inspired by The Idea Room

This one was a bit time consuming and a little too advanced for Gwen, but still a great idea. Amy at the Idea Room recommends square blocks from a craft store which my mom discovered were quite pricey. So she bought some wood at Home Depot and had my dad saw it down to the right size for $1.50. She wound up with over 20 blocks.

And that's not even all of it! It helped that the baby slept for the majority of her visit there since her grandparents knew how to tire a girl out. So if you ever lose out on the lottery of getting to go to an official "craft weekend" don't forget that you can always just do one yourself. Between yourself, your family and your friends you could gather up quite a few supplies and you'd be surprised what you're capable of.

 

Lucky Banner {Free Printable}

Have you managed to take down the Valentine's Day decor and replace it with St. Patrick's Day decor yet? Don't have any St. Patrick's Day decor? Make this cute Lucky banner and you're set.

 

 

sugartotdesigns: Lucky Banner {Free Printable}.

Owl Handprint Craft

A little while ago I went to a baby playdate with the MOMS club I belong to. The mom who hosted put together the cutest little craft that I had to share. It was the perfect amount of work for the moms, just enough to get the crafty-vibe out but not too much since you're still tending to a baby.  And the perfect amount of participation for the babies, they just needed to sit still long enough to get their hands painted.

She found the idea from Pinterest which can be traced back to the blog Meet the Dubiens. And since the tutorial has already been written we're going to use her instructions (with permission, of course).

How to Make Your Own Adorable Handprint Owl

You will need:

template from I am Mama Hear me Roar
pen
coloured cardstock
paper punches - I used a 2 inch circle punch and a hole punch
glue
scissors
paint
paint brush

Directions:

1. print out the owl template.
2. trace the owl template onto your coloured cardstock and cut out the pieces - use any colours you want and go as fancy or as plain as you like!
3. using your 2 inch paper punch, cut out 2 circle eyes and using a hole punch, cut out 2 black holes for the eyes.
4. glue all your pieces on a large piece of cardstock to make your owl.
5. paint your child's palms and have them stamp them on the paper as the owl's wings.

I've been a tad obsessed with owls lately and this made a lovely addition as decor on our fridge. I've thought on numerous occasions that perhaps I should take him down, since it's been there for weeks. But my love of the cute owl trend prevails and on the fridge it has stayed. 

::I'm linking up to these linky parties today::

Insta-Friday - 3rd Edition

 

 This week was a fun one! I honestly had no clue it was Friday. I thought it was Wednesday for some reason. Weird. Anyways, we had a birthday celebration (mine). Since baby G is growing out of her 6 month wardrobe I made sure to put her in all those back of the closet clothes that got lost in the mix. Of course that meant a few elaborate headbands I had forgotten about.

 Hope you had a great week!

Incase you're wondering what this Insta-Friday stuff is all about, check out:

Insta-Friday - 3rd Edition

 

 This week was a fun one! I honestly had no clue it was Friday. I thought it was Wednesday for some reason. Weird. Anyways, we had a birthday celebration (mine). Since baby G is growing out of her 6 month wardrobe I made sure to put her in all those back of the closet clothes that got lost in the mix. Of course that meant a few elaborate headbands I had forgotten about.

 Hope you had a great week!

Incase you're wondering what this Insta-Friday stuff is all about, check out:

The Gallery Wall

Finally! The day has come. May I present to you my Gallery wall. 

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I can't tell you how in love I am. It turned out to be everything I had imagined and more. And here's the best part, it didn't cost a penny.

I hate it when people say that in blogland. Whenever I see something I really like and want to recreate I expect explicit details on how to make it happen, including where I can buy just the thing I love.

Like my cool blue frame? It was a $3 gold mirror I bought at a garage sale years ago (I super hate it when someone posts a really neat dress I can't wait to get my hands on only to have them say it's "vintage"). My mom painstakingly painted that beast with her signature foam paintbrush.



The cute blue wallet-size picture frames? They came from Michael's dollar section and were made into these, which I resurrected into what you see now.

I had all the frames that were either in boxes or used throughout our house. Some were the wrong color, but nothing a little spray paint couldn't fix. The S was a gift years ago that was on a different wall where I took my monthly pregnancy shots.

And this one of Jake and baby G? Happened by complete accident. Neither of us could decide which of these two shots we liked better, so I printed out both. Then when the wacky doodle frame ended up not being the size we though it was we were in need of a second photo to put in it. As my Mom cycled through all the photos, she happened to put these two in together and it melted my heart. It's my favorite piece on the wall (even over the photos of myself!).

The best part is that our photo wall includes our entire family. Brothers, sisters, nephews, parents, grandparents. It's a little Gwen-centered, I'll admit, and we might want to add a couple wedding photos here and there. But by golly it came out amazing.

{A special thanks to my parents, who stayed well past they intended to before driving 8 hours home to Las Vegas to make this lovely wall happen. It was really just my secret way of squeezing in more time to visit.  Love you guys!}