LOVE

My sister-in-law Breanne had a Valentine's Craft Night the other night and this is what I made. Totally easy to make. Just painted wood blocks and then Mod Podged paper and letters to them. I love it!

Toddler belt

Most of the pants I buy for Brandon fit perfectly except for the waist. The pants fall right off. Then when they fit around the waist, they're too short. Ugh. I knew I had seen a tutorial on making a child's belt on my favorite craft blog so I found it and made some! You can get the instructions here. To be safe, I just bought a whole yard of ribbon. I bought 2 different kinds and some D rings at Walmart (1" size)  for a total of $2.26. Can you imagine how much it would cost to buy a little belt in the store? I don't think I've even seen any. What a great gift this would make! I whipped these together in like 10 minutes and I love them so much already!

My little model :)

The striped one is 3/4 of a yard and is almost too small! Get a whole yard and then trim it down to the size you need.

Also, for that tan canvas-y ribbon you only need to buy one piece.

Iron-on Onesies

My sister-in-law is having a baby this month and as my gift to her, I wanted to do something crafty with onesies. I was going to use my Cricut to cut out some little animals but they were too detailed and I don't think it would have worked very well. So, I decided to iron-on some little ties (it's a boy).

1. I bought 5 pieces of fabric at 1/8 yard each. (Total cost was like $2.50 and I still have tons left over)
2. I printed out a Google image of a tie.
3. Iron fabric to a piece of Heat-n-bond
4. Trace tie image to paper backing.
5. Cut out the shape and iron to onesie.

I also decided to sew around the edges of the tie so that it won't fray or anything when you wash them. Because, ya know, newborn clothes get washed a lot. This was harder than I thought but it was totally worth it. Look how cute!

I'm excited t for Laura to see these and I'm even more excited to see the baby in these!

ModPodge Frame

We've had these frames ever since we got married. In fact, I think Sean's parents got them to use at our reception. Anyway, I had this genius idea to modpodge scrapbook paper to the front to make them cute. I used to do this all the time with my mom and sister when I was younger.

Start off with your frame and trace the outside and inside onto the back of your scrapbook paper.

Then cut out your tracing and apply Mod Podge liberally to the front of the frame. Lay paper over the frame. It might bubble a little bit and just do your best to smooth them out. Then add another layer of Mod Podge to the paper.

 

In the end your project should look like this. Totally fun and cute.

Sweater Pillow

This was a fun project. And I actually did it a couple of weeks ago but I couldn't post it because it was a Christmas gift for my parents so I didn't want them to see it. I was inspired by this post of my favorite craft website. It gives all the instructions. And I did the embroidery a few years ago and didn't know what to do with it. *Light bulb* So, I found some old sweaters (that I think I stole from my sisters...sorry Leash. Don't be mad.) and I found a little travel pillow that I bought a while ago to use for Brandon.

I don't remember the dimension of the pillow but, like the tutorial, the fabric should be 1 inch bigger than the pillow, all the way around.

It's just so pretty. And so comfortable to hold. I mean, it's like wearing a comfy sweater. I love it. Merry Christmas, M&D!

Front

back

Painted cutting board

My mom got me doing this project when I was a teenager and I love it. I made one a few months ago while staying at mom's. She was nice enough to buy me extra cutting boards that I could do at home and give as gifts. What a great neighbor gift right? Or wedding gift. Or birthday gift! Totally cute and fun.

To start off, I just googled images of fruits and veggies and printed them off. Then you trace the image on the back side of the cutting board with a black permanent marker (The side you cut on should be face down.)

The image will be mirrored from the front/cutting side.

Then use regular old acrylic paint. You may have to do 2 coats with some colors. When it's dry, spray a clear acrylic sealer over the paint to keep it from coming off. I've learned that it takes a couple of hours for it to really set and not scratch off.

Here are all the finished products! The orange and pear are my favorite!!!

Wise men still seek Him

I love embroidering. I got this idea from a Christmas decoration my MIL (mother-in-law) has upstairs. And I got the design from here. Lots of cute ideas. I may have to do another embroidery. I love embroidering.

This frame I bought didn't come with any backing so I just cut a piece from an old box of diapers to fit the back and hot glued the fabric to it.