crafts Archives - Page 9 of 15

Summer Pinwheel and Burlap Wreath

July 13, 2011 17 Comments

I think pinwheels are so cute and fun for the summer! Several weeks ago while making my flag wreath, I also put this little pinwheel wreath together.

Since it’s made using the scrapbook paper of your choice, it’s a very versatile project. And I made fairly easy by using “flat pinwheels.” Hope you enjoy this tutorial.

What You Need:
1 Embroidery Hoop (mine is 12 inches)
Scrapbook Paper
Burlap (or your choice of material)
Hot Glue Gun
Glue stick
Ribbon

Tutorial:

1. Choose some coordinating scrapbook papers (preferably with designs on both sides). I used 3 different sheets for mine, but you could use more or less. Cut your paper into 5 inch squares. You’ll need about six for a 12 inch wreath. (By the way, the paper that I used came out of a kit from Scrapbook Circle which I actually won last year through a blog giveaway. Yay!)

2. Using scissors, cut your paper starting and the corner, and cutting toward the center, stopping about 1/2 an inch from the center. Do this at each corner. Next you need to fold one of the corners over, folding flat toward the center, and repeat with the remaining corners. Use glue stick so that pinwheel shape stays in place. (Or if you don’t want flat pinwheels, you can fold them over without folding flat and secure the pinwheel with a brad.)

3. Next cover your embroidery hoop with burlap or your choice of fabric. Use the hot glue gun to secure your fabric to the hoop.

4. Now use your glue stick to attach the pinwheels to the wreath.

5. Finally add some ribbon for hanging, and you’re done!

This post is sponsored by Cutie Patootie Creations. Why settle for the same “cookie cutter” party invites, when you can have something custom created for you? Cutie Patooties has unique invitations in a variety of fun styles and themes. And they have all the matching decorations and supplies you need to get your party on! Check out Cutie Patootie Creations today, and get started planning your perfect party!

I’m linking up at these crafty parties and Tidy Mom.

Filed Under: crafts, decorating, summer, Wreaths

Country Style, Shabby Chic 4th of July Wreath

June 22, 2011 6 Comments

My mom gave me this wreath. Isn’t it cute? I have this on my door right now for 4th of July, but I really love decor like this year round because I adore the country style!

To make this wreath, you start with a vine wreath. Next a string of garland featuring small metal stars was added. Also strung on this garland are some small bells, which are painted red or blue. I’ve seen similar garlands sold at decor retailers (perhaps Pottery Barn or Current), so I’m sure you could find something similar with a simple internet search. Or you could go the less expensive route and buy some wire/foil type garland from Wal-mart or the dollar store.

Next wooden hearts and stars were painted and added to the wreath using hot glue. The ribbon at the bottom can be tied and then added also using hot glue, or you can loop the ribbon through the vine and then tie it in lieu of glue.

Finally the star and welcome sign are suspended down the middle using a simple wire wrapping technique. And another wire is wrapped around the top for easy hanging.

I’m linking up at these parties.

Filed Under: crafts, decorating, Misc Holidays, Patriotic, Wreaths

Easy Flag Wreath and Wall Art Tutorial

June 15, 2011 14 Comments

I love 4th of July! I don’t usually do any decorating for it, but I had this flag handkerchief with a couple of paint spots on it, and because I hate to throw things away, I decided to upcycle it into a nice wall hanging.

This is such an easy and affordable project, I just had to share it with you!

What You Need:

embroidery hoop (mine was 12 inches)

flag (mine was about 15 inches wide)

scissors

hot glue gun

ribbon

First you need to position the flag inside the embroidery. Make sure that the area inside the hoop is the exact area you want display, and then tight the hoop. (For mine, I did the “up and down” hanging flag as seen in the Olympics, but as you can see in the picture below, it looks great horizontal as well.)

Next take your scissors and cut out the excess fabric, leaving about 1/2 an inch to an inch all the way around. Your cut doesn’t have to be perfect because you won’t see any of the excess after you’re done.

After you’re done cutting, take your glue gun and glue your excess fabric to the inside of your embroidery hoop. Finally take a piece of ribbon (about 8 inches long). Loop the ribbon through the hoop. Tie the ribbon in a knot. Hang on your wall or door and enjoy!

I’m linking up at these linky parties.

Filed Under: crafts, decorating, Misc Holidays, Patriotic, Wreaths

Easy Easter Egg Banner

April 13, 2011 4 Comments

I was decorating for Easter a few weeks ago, and I had all these foam eggs. At first I was going to hang them in various places in the kitchen, but then I got this fun idea to turn the eggs into a banner.

This is a very easy and inexpensive project, and I was really pleased with how it turned out. And it just happened to go great with this “Happy Easter” banner I already had.

What you need:

Foam Egg Sheets

Ribbon

You should be able to find the foam egg sheets at Wal-Mart, a craft store, or possibly a dollar store. The holes were already punched in these, but you can always use a punch that works with foam if you can’t find any sheets like these.

Cut your ribbon in to 6-8 inch pieces. You could actually go shorter with the ribbon, but I like the look of the longer ribbon. Loop the ribbon through the holes of two foam sheets. Tie the ribbon into a knot. Keep adding eggs in the same way until you have the desired length. On each end of the banner, take a piece of ribbon and loop it through a hole; tie a knot. (These ribbons on the end will be used for hanging.) To give the ends a more cute and “finished” look, take a second ribbon and loop it through the hole, but this time tie the ribbon in to a bow.

Another thing to consider is adding additional ribbons. I thought about tying additional ribbons through the bottom wholes or tying ribbons through the middle of the eggs, but in the end I just decided to keep it simple.

This post is sponsored by Petite Rouge. Are you looking for the perfect finishing touch? Petite Rouge has it. Simple, elegant blossoms to brighten up any outfit. Dainty enough for your smallest princess. Sophisticated enough for your growing girls. Clip on a headband or wear alone.

I’m linking up at the Decor to Adore Spring Craft Party and these weekly parties.

If you’d like to sponsor some posts on my blog, email me for details.

Filed Under: crafts, decorating, Easter Tagged With: banner, decor, garland

I Love Easter Wreaths

March 30, 2011 6 Comments

Photo Credit: UpTown Originals

Here lately I’ve been all about wreaths! Last month I created an etsy treasury of St. Patty’s Day Wreaths as well as a Celebrate St. Patty’s Day treasury, and so this month I followed these up with a treasuy of Easter Wreaths and another called Celebrate Easter.

Also, this month (actually last week) I joined Pinterest. It’s a new bookmarking and social network site. I’ve pinned some lovely things for Easter on there as well. So today I’ll be sharing some wreaths from my Etsy Treasury and my Pinterest Page. (By the way, if you’re already a Pinterest member or you’re going to sign up, please visit my page and follow me, and I will follow you back!)

I hope you enjoy these finds!

Springtime Easter Egg Wreath from A Work of Heart

Easter Wreath from CraftyArtist

Bright and Colorful Easter Egg Wreath from Always Present

Feather Easter Egg Wreath from Every Crafty Endeavor

Spring/Easter Wreath from Loving Every Second

Easter Egg Wreath from Crocheted Creations

Easter Wreath Topiary from Cozy Home Scenes

For more Easter Wreaths, please check out my treasury.

Filed Under: crafts, decorating, Easter, Misc Holidays, Wreaths

Big Little Felt Universe Book Review & Giveaway

March 23, 2011 57 Comments

If you’ve been following my blog for a while you may remember Jeanette Lim. She is the owner of the adorably sweet etsy shop, Umecrafts, which offers some incredible felt patterns and tutorials. Jeanette was one of my very first blog sponsors, and I was so thrilled to feature her patterns on my blog two of years ago. And I’m happy to welcome her sweet patterns back to my blog this week!

This time around I get to tell you about Jeanette’s exciting new book Big Little Felt Universe from Lark Crafts. This book contains more than 70 feltastic projects with life-size patterns and easy to follow instructions!

I’m a huge fan of Jeanette’s work, especially her felt food projects. In this new book you’ll find some of her food crafts, such as felt fruits and vegetables, cookies & milk, even holiday cookies, and a gingerbread house! And then there’s my favorite project—this amazing felt cake!

But foods aren’t the only thing you’ll find in this book. Jeanette has also included some great patterns for all kinds of household items. One of my favorites among these is the house plant patterns. Apart from being incredibly cute, these are also great because I could make these and set them out without worrying about the cats eating them (not the case with real plants). And best of all you don’t have to have a green thumb to make felt plants!

And there’s also a ton of patterns to help your kids play make believe. Imagine making your child a felt doctor’s kit or a purse complete with lipstick, a compact, even a wallet with a credit card! And these are just a few of the fun projects that you can learn to make with this book.

Free Sample Download: Right now Lark Crafts has a free download on their site for the instructions to make this adorable Felt Ice Cream Sundae (pictured above).

Buy It! You can purchase your copy of Big Little Felt Universe online at Barnes and Noble or Amazon.

Win it! One Simply Sweet Home reader will win a copy of Big Little Felt Universe.

Giveaway closed. Congrats to our winner: Deanna!

Disclosure: I was given a copy of Big Little Felt Universe to review. I received no other compensation. The opinions are my own.

Filed Under: crafts, Giveaways

St. Patrick’s Day Wreath

March 2, 2011 22 Comments

I had planned for the first Wednesday of each month to be for my jewelry showcase, but I’m doing some rearranging this month because I wanted to make sure that I shared this wreath in time for others to be able to make their own for the holiday. This is a very easy wreath to make. No crafting tools or skills needed!

What you need:

plain wreath

clover garland (found at Wal-mart or Hobby Lobby)

ribbon (for hanging)

Directions: Simply take your garland and wrap it around the wreath. This particular kind of garland has a wire at it’s base, so it easily wraps around and through the vine wreath to stay in place. But if you’re using another type of garland, you may need to use some hot glue to make sure it doesn’t come unwrapped. Then simply tie a ribbon to the top for hanging. And you’re done!

In honor of the St. Patrick’s holiday, I’ve added this really cute clover cloth to the sewing machine in the dining room. Here’s Dixie posing with a few of her clover-adorned friends!

I’m linking up this week to these parties.

Filed Under: crafts, decorating, Misc Holidays

Love Jar Gift Idea and Tutorial

January 26, 2011 15 Comments

For this week’s project, I’m sharing this Love Jar that I made for my husband last year for Valentine’s Day. It’s is really fun project to make for the one you love. Essentially you just decorate a jar or other container and then you write things on slips of paper and place them in the jar.

For this Love Jar, I typed out a whole bunch of reasons that I love my husband and placed them in the jar. You could also make these for your kids and tell them the reasons you love them or reasons why they are special. And of course, this would be a great project to do with your kids. You could help them to make these for their dad or grandparent. It could even be a good teacher gift.

Another idea that I’ve thought of for you to consider is making a Quote Jar or a Bible Verse Jar. I think these would make really cute gifts. I also think a Poetry Jar would be cute. My husband loves poetry, and I think he would love a jar that he could pull poems out of. And another idea I’ve seen on other blogs is the Conversation Jar. This is where you fill the jar with conversation topics, for when your family gathers around the table.

What You Need:

A container

Scrapbook Paper

Scrapbook tags/embellishments (optional)

Mod Podge

Brush

Scissors

Step 1: Remove any labels from your container.

Step 2: Wrap paper around your container to check for sizing. Cut out paper. Take your paintbrush and apply a light coat of Mod Podge to your container. Then wrap your paper around the container. After you have the paper stuck to the container, take your paint brush and put another light coat of Mod Podge over the paper to seal it. Let dry.

Step 3: Use Mod Podge to add any tags or embellishments, including a tag for the top if you like. You can also paint your top. I chose not to paint mine because the color orange was in my paper. I didn’t have any scrapbook elements that I liked that would fit the top, so for my top, I made up the following phrase, printed it out, and mod podged it to the top: “Whenever You’re Down or Feeling Blue, Just Look at All the Reasons I Love You.”

Step 4: Write or type out different words, phrases, or sentences. Cut them out and place them in the jar. For this jar, the theme was all the reasons that I love my husband. Some of the strips had as little as two words, while others were 2 or 3 sentences. Some of the reasons I put in were very serious and heartfelt while others were more lighthearted and funny. The possibilities are endless.

I’m linking up to these linky parties.

Filed Under: crafts, Valentine's Day

Pittsburgh Steeler Cupcakes

January 25, 2011 22 Comments

This week instead of sharing a recipe for my food post, I’m sharing these cupcakes that I made over the weekend. My husband is a HUGE sports fanatic, and his favorite team is…you guessed it! The Pittsburgh Steelers!

As soon as we found out that the Steelers would be playing in the AFC Championship Game, I knew I had to make something special for my hubby. His favorite cake is yellow cake with chocolate icing, which just so happens to be a perfect tie in for the Black and Gold!

How to Make My Easy and Super Yummy Cupcakes

For the cupcakes, I just used a yellow cake mix and baked as directed. The only thing I added to the recipe was a tablespoon of almond flavoring and a tablespoon of vanilla. This really gives it a rich flavor!

And then I just used a store bought frosting. Normally I heat the canned frosting when using it for sheet cakes, but for this I just put it straight into the piping bag. I had enough frosting in the can to frost 12 cupcakes, and then just enough left over to heat up and pour over a small 9 inch cake that I made to go alongside the cupcakes. But if you plan on making 2 dozen cupcakes with canned frosting, I’d suggest you get an extra can.

Cupcake Topper Tutorial

You will not believe how easy it was to make my cupcake toppers! Before I get to the tutorial I should remind you that sports and other logos are copyrighted and files should be used for personal use only, unless you have permissions to use them otherwise. I’m not sure what all the copyright rules are because in spite of this, I’ve seen a lot of items on etsy that use copyrighted logos and the like. But I would just be careful, and only use logos like this for your own personal projects.

Here’s What You’ll Need:

Cardstock

Glue or tape

Toothpicks

Scissors or a Round Paper Punch

Computer w/ Printer.

Step 1: Go on the internet and search for the logo of your favorite sports team. (I just typed in “Pittsburgh Steelers Logo.” Wikipedia is great source for this. (After finding the Steelers logo on here, I checked for some other teams, and Wikipedia appears to have a logo for every team out there.) But if not, you should be able to find something on just a straight internet search.

Step 2: Right click on the logo and save it. Next open up a Word document. (You could use a photoshop program or other application as well, but Word is just fine with me.) On a new document in Word, go to the Insert tab, and Insert a Picture. Select your Picture (the logo), and it will appear on your screen. Now highlight the image and copy it, and then just paste it on to the document as many times as you like. (I was able to fit 16 logos onto my page.) Note: If you don’t know how to copy/paste, you can also choose to keep inserting the photo onto the page.

Step 3: After you have your images ready, print them out on card stock. Then use scissors or a paper punch to punch out your logos.

Step 4: Use glue or tape to attach your logos to the toothpicks. For mine, I placed the toothpick about half way up the circle.

Step 5: Stick these in your iced cupcakes, and you’ve got a super cute, yet easy and inexpensive cupcake decoration! And your party guests will love them!

There you have it! Quick and easy cupcake toppers!

And my cupcakes must have been lucky, because now the Steelers are moving on to the Super Bowl! So if you’re a fan you should definitely make some of these for your party on February 6! And if you’re not a Steeler fan, you can even make some for “that other team.” LOL.

I’m linking up at these fun linky parties.

Filed Under: crafts, cupcakes, Printables, Recipe of the Week, Simple Solutions

Spotlight on Whimsy Couture

January 14, 2011 1 Comment

I am very excited to reannounce Whimsy Couture as a sponsor here at Simply Sweet Home.

This fabulous etsy shop is a craft and sewing girl’s dream! It offers easy to use, hand written sewing patterns with step by step instructions and colored pictures. These patterns are perfect for busy moms to whip in a short time. And you’ll love the variety of items you can make for your child from the patterns at Whimsy Couture.

Denise is the owner of this etsy shop. Her style is vintage inspired and whimsical. Among the items offered in her shop are patterns for dresses, tops, pants, skirts, aprons, bloomers, capes, and more. She even has pattern for cute appliques for your projects.

Pattern styles include everything from the peasant style, to A-line jumpers, to pillow case tops, strappy tops and items with cute ruffles. Whimsy Couture even offers you great savings through 3 Packs.

And if you don’t have a small child in your family, you should check out Whimsy Couture’s adorable pet bed patterns for the 4-legged, furry members of your family! So cute!

Check out Whimsy Couture on etsy and pick up your patterns for these lovely creations and more. You can also follow Denise through her blog Whimsy Couture and follow Whimsy Couture on Facebook.

If you’d like to advertise on Simply Sweet Home, please see my PR page. Ad prices start as low as $6/mo and just $5 to sponsor 10 posts.

Filed Under: crafts, shopping, Sponsors