Tie A Little Bow

I know I haven't exactly been the best at blogging lately. Life has been super hectic. I've made too many things, been running a restaurant full time, chasing after a very ambitious almost-three-year-old, and creating new life! That's right! I'm pregnant and almost ready to welcome our little dude into this crazy world! I've made a couple things for our Tater-boy that I'll post once I'm on maternity leave, but for now you'll have to settle for some cute little bow ties I whipped up this morning. I didn't have a pattern for them and when I get more time I'll post a small tutorial for them. I'm excited for him to wear them :)

Let's "Fall" into Halloween!

Sorry for the cheesy post titles. I'm kind of a cheesy person and I think they're fun :) 

Alright, so I found this really cute wreath on Pinterest (big surprise, huh?) and I wanted to make one for my door since my front door has never really been adorned with anything cute anywhere Dadoo and I have lived. Of course, you always set out to make an EXACT copy of the one you saw on the internet, but making an exact copy is never in the cards when it comes to items like this. You can usually get pretty close, unless you know the person who actually made the original and they told you where they got everything, which is a long shot. So I went to the fabric store and, just my luck, they had most of the materials on sale! I got 4 yards each of orange and brown tulle which ended up only costing my about $4 for all the tulle. Lucky me! The original wreath I found didn't have the fall accents with the leaves and pine cones and whatever else came in the 'fall clump of stuff' as I call it. The original had berry-like jewels on it plus brown curliques and fabric flowers. I looked everywhere for similar items and came up with the 'fall clump of stuff' and the silver curlies. I made my own flowers from fabric I had left over from previous projects and added some extra tulle to add a little more flair. The wreath was really simple. All you do with the tulle is just lie each strip on. I cut my strips about 3-4" wide. I believe I got about 22 strips from both colors of tulle. 

I found a really cute printable online for Halloween as well as a banner to make out of scrapbook paper. They're nothing fancy, but I like 'em :) I also found a way to recycle old egg cartons into bats and hung them from my ceiling.

Hope y'all enjoyed seeing these fun things and happy crafting!

Christmas Crafts

I realize it is now April 2013, but I wanted to share a couple things that I made for the holidays.

First is a tree skirt I made from blue cotton fabric and burlap. Burlap is quite the 'it' thing right now and why not jump on that bandwagon, right?  Ever since our first Christmas as a married couple, I have been looking for the perfect tree skirt to add to our decorations. I looked and looked and could never commit to any of them because they just weren't what I was looking for. I finally found one I liked on Pinterest last year and set out to make it for myself. I bought a cheap-o tree skirt from the dollar store to use as a base or template and instead of hot gluing the strips of fabric and burlap on like the lady did in her tutorial, I decided to fire up my sewing machine and sew the fabric strips on. I can honestly say it was one of the easiest things to make and I am so pleased with how the tree skirt turned out. Also, by sewing on the strips of fabric, my tree skirt turned out nice and 'fluffy'. My sister-in-law made one also, but glued her strips and it turned out less 'fluffy' than she was expecting.

Another item....or three....that I made were snowflakes made from skinny tree limbs from my parents Globe Willow tree they cut down last fall. The tree was dying and had to be cut down because some critter decided to burrow into the trunk of the tree and it started to decay and rot and rather than having the tree fall and crush the fence, my parents cut the entire thing down. So I took the opportunity to save some of the smaller limbs to make decorations for various holidays and occasions. I have pictures somewhere on my computer, but am unable to locate them at this time. I'll post them once I find them. 

In my search for my wood snowflakes, I found pictures for some Halloween and Fall decorations I made that I will be posting when I get the chance. I know they'll be out of order, but its better to have them be out of order than not posted at all, right?! 

Thanks for viewing and happy crafting :)