Twill Heart Garland

Happy Monday! Today, I am guest posting this adorable Twill Heart Garland at No Biggie. If you've never been to No Biggie ~ you must. Kami is amazing at crafts, cooking and thrifting.

You'll never guess where I found with the twill fabric?!?  So, you must hop on over to No Biggie and find out.

1, 2, 3 Preschool

When my boys picked out their backpacks for school they went with simple gray. Seeing their plainness, I thought it might be fun to jazz each bag up a little bit. My third grader scoffed and said "No, thanks" but my five year old was all over it!! My second son, has a summer birthday so we are putting off kindergarten one more year and he is attending preschool again.

He and I had so much fun decorating his Preschool Backpack. He decided to put his initial "T" on the front pocket. He picked the green fabrics and came up with "star idea", and got a little help from Mom in the sewing department!! (Most of it I could do on my machine and the last bit I had to sew by hand.)

He loves his school backpack. He is so proud of have designed it himself. In about 20 minutes, we had a super cute personalized bag for Preschool.

Nemo Hat

When I realized my due date was in the FALL I asked my friend Jeanette to make me some warm knit hats for the baby. In typical Jeanette fashion she didn't disappoint!!! Check out this adorable Nemo hat she made, she even included the lucky fin. Homemade goodness like this, just makes me smile and internally giggle with glee. I can't wait to have him wear it. Thank you Jeanette, I love it.

Art Shoppe Treasures

The hardest thing about the hosting the Art Shoppe is: I have to find all the vendors. Actually, that part isn't hard at all (that is my favorite part!) What is hard is: I love every vendor and love what they sell....so once the shoppe starts I have to sit there for three days and lovingly gaze at all their great products. Actually, that part isn't hard either! Trying to keep my spending under control...now that is the hardest part!

Here is a little peek at some of the wonderful things I got at my own Art Shoppe. I am like a kid in the candy store!

Families are Forever Frame by Creation Cottage

"Sidney" by Winborg Sisters Design

Baby Burp Clothes by Elle Design Cottage

Vintage Fabric Dolls by Mariah Made

Pretties

Between spongebob, dinosaurs, nerf guns, and gross bugs (my two boys) I always have the hankering to make something girly. I got the idea while browsing Anthropologie's always great hair accessories. I was surprised how easy these flowers were to make after I purchased the hair clips.

Hopefully most of these handy items you alrady have at home. A button, a hair clip, DMC floss and no more than an 8" by 8" piece of wool felt.

You only need a 8" by 8'"piece of wool. Cut three "imperfect flowers". Each diameter of the flower gets a little smaller. The largest being 2 1/2 " the middle 2" and the smallest 1 1/4", place the flowers one on top of the other, with the largest flower on the bottom.

Pick your favorite button to finish the flower off. Hand sew the button to all three flowers. I used two pink DMC floss (strings) and hand sew the button to the flowers, so that all three flowers and button are attached by the floss.

Hot glue the clip to the back of the flowers. I purchased the hair clip from my local craft store they came in a package of 12.

I think these are a great personal gift for a friend, daughter or your favorite little girl on Valentine's Day. Every girl needs to feel pretty and something pretty and homemade: even better.

PTA - Presents Teachers Adore

Being a new Mom of a first grader I thought: "Pamela, get yourself involved" (I have a great friend, Andrea, who is so involved in her PTA, and has always inspired me.) So I signed up for the PTA and went to my first meeting. Little did I know, but on top of all the PTA does, they also give birthday and Christmas gifts to the teachers. This is my new J.O. B. So, to me PTA really stands for: PrEsEnTs TeAcHeRs AdOrE - because I have thought up some pretty fantastic ideas. (wink, wink, nod, nod)

Since my budget is roughly around $5.00, I got on my friend Marie's blog looking for some super-duper ideas (check out http://www.makeandtakes.com/ - you'll love it) and I learned all about etched glass. What is great about this gift is it translate into all sorts of gift giving categories: school, neighbors, family, work, friends and so on.

I decided to find a large clear glass mug, (I found mine at IKEA) and have each teacher's name etched into the glass. This is a nice way to personalize a gift (having their name on it) and the mug has many purposes.

If your doing more than one, an assembly line works great and having all your supplies handy makes for an easy and stress free project. What you need:

Etched glass
*rubber gloves - not shown in picture
clear glass mug, plate, cup, vase etc.
sponge brush
vinyl design
painters tape or masking tape

****For safety reasons: before beginning put on rubber gloves****

Step #1 - Place vinyl on glass, making sure it is smooth and flat
Step #2 - Tape painters tape to sides, making work surface bigger - for no mistakes

Step #3 - With sponge, paint etched glass on top of vinyl design
Step #4 - Follow directions on back of etched glass label for wait time - mine says: let sit for 6 minutes
Step #5 - Rinse with warm water and remove vinyl/tape
Step #6 - Wash with dish soap and clean with glass cleaner

Since I am making this for teachers I filled my mug with candy, tied a bow and added a little birthday note. Come up with your own great ideas and let me know how it turns out.

Linking up:
Sumos Sweet Stuff
Todays Creative Blog

Hang me up!

Check out this great VINTAGE FALL DOOR SIGN!!! I bought a cardboard sign from Roberts (my local craft store) then, I bought some OLD VINTAGE SHEET MUSIC at Deseret Industries (a local thrift store) and mod podged it to my sign.
I let it dry for a few hours and contacted my friend Lorinda for some great black vinyl. I knew I wanted to put our family initial "C" and to give it a FALL-ISH feel: two large black pumpkins.
With a little bit of prep work: sign, sheet music and vinyl, I assembled it in a few hours.

pammy