Ranie's Version of Lillie's Headband

A friend asked me last week if she thought we could put together some baby flower headbands for her little girl. Lillie is turning 1 in a few days, and I was confident that Emma and I could put something together.
We decided to make it a little competition so we could give my friend some options to choose from. Emma made one that she will post here when she is finished... and this is mine. Following the tutorial found here :http://www.u-createcrafts.com/2011/01/creative-guest-vintage-rosettes.html... and adding a little bit of my own twist, this is what I came up with. Check back in a few days to see Emma's finished headband. Lillie is already such a beautiful girl, and I sure hope her momma loves what we made for her!

Antique Obsession

A few months ago, I found a new favorite antique store. I suppose it isn't that new, but I recently found it... and it is a bit dangerous because it is pretty close to my work. Talk about tempting!! Anyway, they have little bags of random mostly broken jewelry near their check out stand for $10. I bought one, and fell in love.

 Here is a picture of the bag before I reconstructed anything...

 Here is one of the items- a bracelet. I dont think I look very good in bracelets, so I up-cycled this into something I think I would wear... a necklace... Here is a tutorial

 collect the beads and decide on a pattern

start stringing them on your favorite jewelry wire

(can be found in the jewelry section of most craft stores)

String them along however you would like...

 Next you will need a crimp bead and a link ring

 loop your wire through the crimp bead and the link ring

then back through the crimp bead the other way

 Pull it through very tightly

 Use your needle nose pliars to clamp down tightly on the crimp bead

repeat this process on the other end of the necklace

 depending on the style you want, you can add a chain to make the necklace adjustable

 on the other side add your clasp- these come in all shapes and sizes

 then make sure they clasp correctly

 ta-da! Your new necklace!!

I have a thing for off centered jewelry so you can see this is off center- its just my style, but you dont have to do it this way of course

Following this same basic process, I made all of this jewelry from my $10 bag from the antique store. Because I was able to re-use the clasps... my total amount on the project was around $15... so getting 7 pieces of wearable adorable antique-ish jewelry is a bargain! These also made wonderful Christmas gifts! Needless to say I will definately be off to the antique store again very soon!

BETH GIVEAWAY!!

hey!! i just wanted to pop in and let anyone who would like to you... they are having a beth (silhouette) giveaway at the darling blog i found!!

SILHOUETTE GIVEAWAY!!

and the blog is so crafty!! i'm gunna have to follow her.. oh wait! we do :)

lame is a good word

hello our fellow bloggers! i have a confession to make, we are super lame! i wish i had a good excuse for why we havn't posted in almost two weeks, but i really dont. after christmas we just kinda went back to our normal fun schedule but its gotten a little out of control! another reason why we have lost our craftyness for a week or so is our craft room light has burned out.. and i'm (the taller one) not tall enough to reach the lightbulb and i keep forgetting to tell the dad!! sorry!! um... i would also like to introduce you to our friend Beth though... she is the third party in our craft blog... here is a picture of her, isn't she so beautiful?

beth is very friendly and loves to do service for others! if you have anything that you need a cut of.. just shoot us a comment and we could be happy to work something out with ya!! we will be back later with an actual project, until then have a great time working on your cuteatude!!



Recycled Jewelry Storage

I (Ranie) have a confession... I am an antique jewelry addict! Seriously. If I have had a hard day, or if I want a great weekend activity- there is nothing higher on my list to do than hit up the local antique store to raid their jewelry stash. I will show you other examples of this... but for today I thought I would show you one of my solutions for my addiction. Ok, maybe it isn't a solution for the addiction, but it is a solution for keeping my habit organized!

 Here is my collection of earrings, cardi clips, brooches, rings and a few bobbi pins and hair ties all mixed in.

This was a nightmare to sort through when I wanted to find that perfect pair of earrings to go with my outfit. Back in the day, I would just look at my stash and sigh... then proceed to let all of these gems sit there in hopes that one day I would get over it and sort through the stash to find what I actually wanted.

 Then I remembered these babies... That's right, they are empty Gerber baby food containers

 I discovered them back in my working-in-daycare days, but since I don't have a baby and therefore a ready supply of these, I had to beg. That's right, I begged them (for free) off of my friend/coworker who does have a little gerber food eating little one. She thought I was weird for asking, but I assure you, it was well worth the beg!

 First I selected some scraps of paper that would match my room decorations and cut them to the right dimensions. I also needed to round the edges so that they would fit in the lid wedge "just so"

Then I grabbed my favorite tools- good ol' Mod Podge and a spounge brush

I put the mod podge all over the little inlay on the lid

 Then set in the paper in their proper places...* Be sure to do one at a time and take the time to press the paper into the mod podge so bubbles do not form*

 After the base layer of mod podge dried, I covered the tops of the lids with mod podge. I put on a couple of coats because I have a little OCD

 While that dries... go ahead and sort out your piles and make sure your earrings all have their pair (evidence of OCD again)

Once dry, put in your jewels

I made 4. 1 for rings, 1 for earrings, 1 for brooches/cardi clips and 1 for bobbi pins/hair bands...

Now that they are organized... they are getting used much much more! Hooray!

Let me know if you make any!

MEMORY QUILTS

hello everyone! we are so sorry it took us a while to post a little somthin somthin on our blog! christmas and new years are busy for us, and we have been running around like crazies for today’s tutorial... we are going to tell/teach/show you how to make a MEMORY QUILT! and they are darling!! If you were lucky enough to read our first post then you would have read that our mom passed away a while ago.. (almost a year and a half) I had this idea come to me about 3 days after she had died. The plan: I was going to make quilts that year for Christmas out of the clothes that my mom had in her closet! I thought it would be a great way to remember her and keep her close. Long story short I didn't have the resources to make me and my sisters the quits that first Christmas.. so I started on december 26th last year on these quilts.. they were finished for the one year anniversary of her passing(july 12th) but I kept them so I could officially give them to my sisters (and myself) this year for Christmas, and I think they are beautiful!!

so now with much anticipation, I will show you a picture of the finished product!!

the front...

and the back!

This is my (Emma’s) finished quilt.. you can even see some pockets she had on a few shirts, some of her favorite jean shorts, a couple of her “Saturday” shirts.. it’s a little crazy, but just what I would have wanted!! The brown is actually the back.. we each picked some kind of fabric from my mom or dad’s old clothes to make a heart for the back!

And her is the how-to…

Cut the clothing.. or material into the same dimentions (ours were 7.5x7.5). This is a much faster process with a rotary cutter.

Then make sure you have enough squares to make the quilt the size you want (we ran out of clothes after a while.. so we ended up using our Halloween table cloth, pillowcases she made, and some of the pajamas we were wearing the night she passed away)

Lay the blocks out to make sure you get a good non-pattern going.. or if you are in to structure, line them up nice!!

This next part is optional… but it will help your quilt last longer. We cut one sided interfacing into the same dimensions as the fabric squares and then ironed them on. I really did spend the time and ironed on all 250 pieces of fabric.. This did make it easy to sew the squares together too. Each fabric has its own stretch, and this eliminated some of the trouble…

Now its time to start sewing… I just took my pattern and sewed strait lines, make sure to back-stitch!!

Then start sewing the strips gether.. eventually you will end up with this…

I’m sorry I don’t have a picture for this one… I had my wonderful friends Sheila Zolman and Aleisha Coleman help me “bind” my blankets, they did a great job! Then I just stitched my little opening together and started quilting!!

The binding was done with a serger machine. We don’t own one, and if you don’t, you could just do a zig zag stitch then cut off the excess. Stack your layers this way… top of quilt, backing fabric (those two right sides together) and then place a layer of thin batting. Leave and opening and then flip it inside out to show both fabrics with the batting in the center. Then stitch the opening shut.

Once the opening is closed, you are good to machine quilt the top. Each one of ours is a little bit different so have fun with this…

Another optional part here is sew something on the back, for these blankets we chose a hearts… but you could do stars, initials or numbers!!

Oh my heck! Can you believe it!! You are done making your memory quilts! I’m sp proud!!

Now all you need to do is wash them all up and tie a bow on them!!

Other ideas to make memory quilts: baby clothes, high school t-shirts, travel t-shirts, bandanas etc. Have fun with it!

If you make one, we want to see it!

We are wishing you had a VERY Merry Christmas and that your new year gets off to a great start too!

ABC's of CHRISTMAS

Is your mailbox getting over run by these?

 Christmas cards are a great way to get updates from family and friends! The can also be a great waste of paper...

Many years ago, our mom decided to collect the cards she received and came up with a brilliant way to "upcycle" them!

We have many childhood memories reading this old ratty book under the sparkleing lights of the tree.

After 25+ years of owning this glorious "upcyled" treasure, it was time to start collecting cards again to make 3 replicas for each of us to one day "inherit".

We decided to pass the poems for each letter of the alphabet to you in hopes that you will adopt this tradition and share the "ABC's of Christmas" with a child in your life...

*feel free to copy the poems, and put together a little scrapbook of your own together with your collected cards this holiday season.*

a-is for…Angels- with halo’s so bright, their carols were heard on that first Christmas night

b-is for…Baby- the Christ child so dear, we celebrate Christmas, His birthday each year

c-is for…Candles- that so brightly shine, to give a warm welcome, to your friends and mine

d-is for…Doorways- with garlands of green, to make Christmas merry as far as they’re seen

e-is for…Evergreens- garlands galore, we hang at our windows, fireplace and door

f-is for…Fun- the whole season long, from cutting the tree, to singing a song

g-is for…Greetings- a merry hello, with a heart full of love, for the people we know

h-is for…Holly- with berries so red, to make into wreaths to hang over head

i-is for…Ice- on the snow covered hills, where skating is fun along with the spills

j-is for…Jingle bells- merrily ringing, telling the world of the joy they are bringing

k-is for…Kris Kringle- old Santa himself, have you ever seen a jollier elf

l-is for lantern, I'm sure that its light, helped Mary and Joseph that first Christmas night.

m-is for…Mary- her heart full of love, for her little son Jesus who came from above

n-is for…Noel- the angels did sing, to herald the birth of Jesus our king

o-is for…Ornament- so shiny and bright, with lights on the tree they sparkle at night

p-is for packages found under the tree. I'm hoping that there's at least one for me

q-is for…Quiet- Christmas eve night, with the stars in the sky, shining so bright

r-is for…Rudolf- his nose shining so bright, helping santa to make his way thru the night

s-is for…Shepherd’s- who first saw the star, over Bethlehem’s manger and followed it far

t-is for Tree, we'll place high the star. We'll find them in homes both nearby and far.

u-is for…Universe- may peace be on earth, at Christmas we celebrate our dear saviors birth

v-is for…Vixen- a lively reindeer, he helps Santa deliver the toys each year

w-is for…Wise men- who came from afar, they found the baby Jesus by following a star

x-is for…X-mas a short way to spell, that special day we all love so well

y-is for…Yule logs- who’s bright sparks fly high, and give a warm welcome to those friends passing by

z-is for…Zzzz- Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night

We printed the poem (one letter per page) on 81/2 x 11"  paper, picked cards that went along with the poems, glued the pictures on and added alphabet stickers to their proper pages. We chose to put them in page protectors inside 3 ring binders, but laminating the pages and getting them spiral bound would also be great.

Enjoy!