Cute washer necklaces! Love these!

{from the creativecrate.blogspot.com}

Sorry for the not so quality pics...but I just had to share... These are so fun to make!

I found this idea on YouTube and it is from the DIY Network show called: "Creative Juice"!

Scroll down and hit pause on the music before you play video.

These were sooo easy and the turned out so cute!!! On some of the ones I made...distressed the edges with ink.

Another option you could do instead of using Diamond Glaze...is that you could pour resin over the top. If you decided to do that... you could prop the washers up on toothpicks so that the resin can drip off. When they were completely dry... I pried the stuck toothpicks off... and sanded the leftover resin on the back... OFF... till it was smooth. Resin gave them a very smooth, raised glassy look.

Also another option... that my daughter really liked... is using a glitter glaze. I found some of this over by where they keep the glue and resin at Michaels . This really gave it a "Bling" look to the washer. You could do so many different things with these... so just experiment... and have fun with it! These might be fun to make at either a Mother/Daughter activity...or Girls Camp!

These anklets are adorable!

{from allthingsheartandhome.com}

Let’s do a little tutorial today! I know not all of you love the crafts like I do, but today if you’ll bear with me and leave a little comment you could win one of THREE anklets! That’s right, today I’ll give away THREE! Woo Hoo!

Is it just in the South, or do girls everywhere wear anklets when the weather gets warm? The moment sandals and Capri’s and sun dresses come out of storage, you can see little jewelry decorating ankles everywhere! I made some of these last year and gave some away. You know I love to give things away! The one I kept for my own bad self, I wore nonstop all summer. In the ocean, in the pool…everywhere!

Here’s all you need to start…the findings are just end clamps and all of this can be found at Michael’s and JoAnn’s!Cut 2 pieces of hemp or cotton cord between 8 and 9 inch’s depending on the dainty little ankle you’ll be adorning!

Okay here’s what I do, you Do NOT have to use this glue. I have a love hate relationship with it myself. I get it all over my hands and it takes about 24 hours to wear off! I dip the ends of the cord in a dab of glue before putting them into the end clamp. But you can simply clamp the ends. I’m OCD and feel compelled to glue and clamp!

The end clamps are easy, just put the cord in and use needle nose pliars to close the ends of the clamp over the cord. Do the other side of your cord the same way!

To one side of the end clamp attach a clasp like this one…

I love to add charms to the other end. I think the little shells are delightful!

Now, knot both cords through the round charm like this. It’s difficult to describe but doing it is easy!

Taaa Daaa!

I’m sorry you have to see my ankle Peeps, the pups have itty bitty ankles and they were terrible models!

Colorburst Cupcakes

These are so cute!! They would be cute for holiday cupcakes too, doing different colors! Or sports games, etc.

{from ourbestbites.com}

My Mom is a really creative woman. I didn't realize it until I grew up and became a mother myself. Now that I look back on the birthday parties she threw and the incredible cakes she created, I'm really amazed at the things she came up with back in the day when you couldn't run to Target or Walmart and basically buy a party in a bag. Halloween costumes were no exception. We never, ever had store-bought costumes growing up. My Mom was a great seamstress and her creativity had no boundaries. I look at old family pictures and I love how she took simple ideas and turned them into something fun. Take me for example, around age 5:




That my friends, is a rainbow. And I thought it was the coolest costume ever. [Insert joke here from my husband about how I'm being prepped for my first parade. You know, as in*parade*. Now ignore joke.] I was obsessed with this chick, and if you look at every picture I ever created out of any sort of art media between the ages of 3 and 9, it undoubtedly included 3 things: hearts, flowers, and rainbows. To this day, I [clearly as a heterosexual woman] still get a little bit giddy inside when I see all of those colors together. Something about rainbows just makes me happy.

If you read the CafeMom feature from last week, I noted that my youngest son just turned one. For my first son's birthday I made an adorable cake with matching mini-cake and matching cupcakes with matching favors and decorations for the hordes of people I invited to his first party. In keeping with second-child-syndrome fashion, my second son's first birthday rolled around and all that I had collected was this:


Not much. But see the colors? I told you I love that stuff. The bright combo just made me happy and they looked as bright and happy as my bubbling little boy, so I decided to just use that as a theme. Like, uh..balloons. Ya, it's a colorful rainbow balloon theme. Or at least that's what the scrapbook pages will indicate when he's old enough to wonder why no one was at his party and it had no theme. I really wasn't in the mood to make a big fancy cake (since no one was even coming to this party... ya, I'll erase this comment when he's old enough to read), so I decided to do cupcakes and make it easy. A few months ago, I spotted a great rainbow layer cake on a food blog I love, Omnomicon, and decided that I'd make a fun cupcake version of my own. Using a doctored cake mix made it even easier.

(I would like to make a special note to my friend Britanie that I am in fact using a cake mix. See? I'm not a total snob :)


You'll want gel food colors for this, not the little bottles of liquid. Gel color adds a ton of color with a small amount of dye. You can find gel colors at craft stores like Michaels and Roberts, and in the cake decorating isle of Walmart. If using red, make sure to get the one that says "No Taste"


Colorburst Cupcakes

1 white cake mix
2 eggs
1 C sour cream
1/2 C milk
1/3 C vegetable oil

Combine all ingredients until incorporated (about 30 seconds). Scrape sides of bowl and then beat on med-high speed for 3 minutes.

Divide batter according to how many colors you are using. I used 5 colors and it worked out to a little over 1 cup for each color.

Use food coloring to color batter to desired intensity. I used a 1/4 t and they were verybright! You could easily make pastel rainbows using a little less.


To get a layered stripe like I used, you'll want to put a spoonful of each color in the cupcake one at a time. The batter is thick, so it won't spread on it's own. A great tip is to set out a little bowl of water where you're working. Dip your finger in the water and then gently spread the batter out. The water will make it so the batter doesn't stick to your fingers.

Another tip is to use a measuring spoon and some water to measure out how many teaspoons/tablespoons are going to fit in your cupcake. Then divide that by how many colors you have so you know how much of each color to use for each cupcake. For my 5 colors, it worked out perfectly with 2 t of each color in each cupcake. So I put in 2 t of blue in the bottom of each cupcake and spread it out with my finger. Then I put in 2 t of green on top of that, then yellow, etc.

Bake them according to the package directions, until a toothpick comes out dry. Check these babies out! I swear I didn't photoshop these. True crazy colors. I love how you can see the rainbow through the papers. If you want blue on top, just reverse the order (duh, right?)



I topped mine with this frosting. A double batch made enough to put crazy high tops like this on all 24 cupcakes.



Pop on another cupcake liner for presentation if you want...




And when you open that little cutie up...WOW! Check this coolness out:


What's fun is that the insides are all different just depending on how they bake. Biting into these is the best part!




Check this one out- for the last couple when I was tired of the whole layering thing, I just spooned batter in randomly all over to make it spotty. It baked up with love on top.Ahhh... that's for all you guys. I heart our readers :)


Now your turn to show some love and bake up some of these. If you're a sports fan, these would be really cool with team colors. How about black, green and brown for a boyscamo party? Or holiday color combos are endless.... Have fun!

Flower Baby Clips

So cute! I've been looking for a tutorial for these - also remember to buy the alligator clips at Sally Beauty! Have Jess do it!

{from naptimecrafting.blogspot.com}

I made this last week, but my internet was down for almost a week, and I forgot I was waiting to post it :)

I found a bouquet of red flowers at Jo-Anns and used my trusty 40% off coupon (I wouldn't have half my craft stash without those now that we're living on a budget). I picked off 3 flowers from the stems and used a needle and thread to sew them together and attached a yellow button to the center.

Some fake flowers come with pretty centers you can use, but mine were ugly, so I opted for the button.

I then covered an alligator clip with 7 inches of 3/8" yellow ribbon and sewed the flower down to the ribbon-lined clip and then finished it off with some craft glue under the flower to add extra stability.

P.S. - I looked all over about 4 months ago for a handful of the alligator clips (or AKA Toddler Clips) and wound up at Sally's Beauty Supply. I got this box below of 100 clips for about $5. You can't find a better deal than that. These are the same clips I used when I made these Toddler Hair Clips last month. . .

This was my first attempt at attaching flowers to clips, but I hope to get better flowers next time (preferrably Daisies)!

Reversible Fabric Headband

So cute! Love these, way cute for little girls!

{from naptimecrafting.blogspot.com}

I've seen headbands all over the internet and decided to make my own - including creating a pattern! I saw this idea on someone's blog a few months ago, but didn't see a pattern or tutorial there, so I decided to try this from "scratch."

This was the first time I've created my own pattern. I traced one of my plastic headbands that I liked the style of and added width for the seams and length to go all the way around my head instead of ending at the ears like it did. It took a few tweaks and changes, but I was successful. I made 2 different patterns that can be printed out. Here is the link to the patterns I made. One is a wide center (like the pictures below) and the other pattern is for a straight/square band.

I like headbands, but I always get tired of wearing them when the plastic ends start squishing my head. So I wanted one with elastic so that I didn't have to have anything squishing my head. I'm actually wearing the yellow one now and it has stayed in place all day and hasn't bothered my head at all!
Supplies needed:

• Pattern (saved in documents under "headband"
• 2 scraps of fabric that are 20"x3"
• 1 piece of interfacing that is 20"x3"(optional, but makes the headband firmer)
• elastic at least 4" long
• optional (ribbon to go the length of the headband on a solid fabric)

Step 1
Cut out fabric and interfacing using the pattern

Step 2
If interfacing is fusible, Iron it to the wrong side of one of the pieces of fabric

Step 3
With right sides together, sew down the 2 long sides of the headband with 1/4" seam allowances (don't sew the small ends!!) The interfacing will be visible on one side too.

Step 4
Turn the headband right side out. This is kinda tricky! I started using the stick end of a paint brush to get going and then once I was far enough in, I put my finger inside the band (like the picture below) and used my thumb to slide the fabric through. It took awhile, but make sure you go slow so you don't rip out the seams on the side. (I did that on my first one - oops!) Once you get to the halfway mark, it goes really fast.

Step 5
Iron the headband flat to make sure the seams are flat before topstitching


Step 6
Sew down the long sides again - this time on the right sides of the headband to tack it in place. I didn't measure how far in I sewed the stitch, but just pick where you want the topstitch to be.


Step 7
Attach elastic to both ends by inserting it 1/4" to 1/2" in the headband end then stitch across the headband's end making sure to catch the elastic.


Step 8
I tried a couple different ways to finish off the ends so they looked prettier. On the brown headband, I did a tight zigzag stitch that covered the entire end so you wouldn't see the stitch.


But on the yellow headband, I cut a few inches of ribbon and wrapped the end, sewing it down across the middle of the ribbon and on both ends (if you use a thinner ribbon, you would be fine to just sew down the middle.



I liked the ribbon capped look on the ends the best.

Baby Info Blocks

How cute! I would love these for my {future} children. :)

{from naptimecrafting.blogspot.com}

I've been trying different ways and layouts to display my son's name with his birth info, and this is the design I settled on. I've seen it on one square block and that's what got my creative juices flowing - but I wanted something a little different.

My husband cut the wood into 3 pieces for me and then I painted it and burnished the edges with brown stamp pad ink - then applied the vinyl I cut with my Cricut Expression.

Ribbon Can

Or holding anything else, too! Look how cute!

{from naptimecrafting.blogspot.com}

I was getting tired of storing my ribbon scraps in a shoe box. It was messy, unorganized, and not cutely stored. So I cleaned out an empty Cocoa Mix container and Mod Podge'd scrapbook paper on it. I cut the letters out of cardstock on my Cricut, then Mod Podge'd those on too. Sealing it all with another layer of Mod Podge.

I had cut 80+ sheets of vinyl for my Church's "Super Saturday" craft day, and each tube of vinyl came with a giant popsicle stick to rub the vinyl on with. I saved all those and quickly found a use for them. I wrapped my ribbon scraps around them and then stored them neatly in the cocoa container.

I still have smaller scraps that weren't really worth wrapping around the stick a couple times, so I'm going to cover another container soon and toss all the tiny scraps in there. I've started saving them if they are 2" or more now . . . in hopes of making a scrap ribbon belt like Ashley did at Lil Blue Boo.

Halloween Countdown

This is so cute! And you could do it for any holiday or just for the date!

{from naptimecrafting.blogspot.com}

Halloween is my favorite holiday - maybe because of the colors associated with it. So I wanted to make a countdown to Halloween. One of my past co-workers had a perpetual countdown like this, but just basic white with black numbers.

My husband cut the base wood for me (2"x4") and I bought the 2" blocks at Michaels. It took me forever to figure out the numbers for each block. I knew I needed a 0, 1, and 2 on each block, but the rest of the numbers left one number without a side. It took me a while, but then I found that the 9 and 6 would be reversible as the same number (so I had to choose a font that the 6 and 9 worked out as the same number.


Here's a pic of the vinyl I cut out for the blocks:


Then, paint blocks, sand the edges to distress them and cut and mod podge them to the blocks.



When attaching the vinyl letters (you could also use regular paper and glue them on) make sure the 6/9 number is on a paper square that doesn't have writing or an image that can't be upside down.

For the base block, I distressed it with black ink from a stamp pad - then applied mod podge to all 3 pieces to seal the vinyl and paper.

Haunted Houses

So cute! I love this idea, and those bird houses are only a couple bucks!

{from sistersstuff.blogspot.com}

This was a fun Halloween craft I did with my kids. We took bird houses and spray painted them black. After they dried, we added white paint, scrapbook paper, stickers and ribbons.

Diaper Wipe Case

I'm definitely going to want multiple of these when I have a baby! So stinkin' cute!!

{from sistersstuff.blogspot.com}

I saw these covered diaper wipe cases when I was pregnant with my first baby and fell in love with them. I thought they were adorable and had to make them! I hope you find this tutorial useful!

Supplies:
plain wipe case
glue gun
pins
paper
pencil
batting
material
trim
ribbon/embellishments
scissors
ruler or measuring tape

Trace the bottom of your wipe case once and top of your wipe case twice. One of your top patterns will be the pattern for your batting.Once you have your patterns for the top and bottom you will need to measure the bottom and top sides of your wipe case. Once you have the measurement you will need to extend the top and bottom drawing by the amount you measured so that it will cover the sides of your wipe case.

You will have three patterns .I labeled mine top, bottom and batting so that I could use my patterns again. *The batting pattern is your original top pattern. It will be the smallest.Pin your patterns to the batting and cut out your batting. Next, do this with your top and bottom patterns to cut out your material.Glue your batting to the top of you wipe case.Glue the material to the top of the case. Make sure it covers the sides. It doesn't have to be perfect because you will be putting trim around the edges. Do the exact same thing to the bottom of the case. Then add ribbons or any other "bling" you want to the top of your wipe case. You want to do this before you add the trim.Glue trim to the top and bottom of the case. I like to start in the back so that the seams match up in the back and not in the front.

Here is the final product! So cute!