TINKERBELL PAPER DOLLS

I actually posted this on the big Birthday day, but since then, I've managed to accidentally erase it. Oh bother. Here it is again.

FREE PRINTABLES
Print on 8.5"x11" and Cut

I used glue dots to keep the mess contained during the party. I also laid out several types of embellishments for the kids: Sparkle stickers, ribbon, yarn, twine, sunflower seeds, fabric, mini pompoms for Tinkerbell and Periwinkles shoes, and pens to draw in shoes and faces.

TINKERBELL AND FRIENDS PAPER DOLLS

Here are all of the dollies cut out. It was a ton of cutting, and not all were used at the party, but we've made good use of them post party. The girls love to play with them after they've put them together. The cutting was worth it.

RAG GARLAND

This was originally made for my girlfriend's birthday party, a pretty spring party with greens and yellows. But, frugal me, I'm reusing it for my daughter's fairy party which also has some green and yellow in the color palette.

































Along the edge of my fabric, I cut first, about every 1/2" (in groups of four) and then rip the fabric, and repeat. If you rip your fabric instead of cutting, It makes for a better "rag" look. In the end I have piles of five different fabrics, all the same size.

When knotting around the yarn, I take one strand off fabric and loop it in half. Put the loop under the yarn strand and pull the ends through, tug and repeat.  I don't go in a pattern really, I just randomly arrange the fabrics until they're all gone. Then you can adjust them and space them for the space needed. I think mine was 1/4 yard of five fabrics and a yarn strand about 4 feet in length.

FAIRY PARTY PREPARATIONS

My little big girl is turning five and she loves Periwinkle. She likes Tinkerbell too, but mostly she loves Periwinkle. Probably because Peri is named after her favorite color. That's what happens when you're the product of two designers, you don't just like blue.... or green... or purple, you like PERIWINKLE.

So when that movie came out (Secret of the Wings) you can be she flipped a lid. I broadened her party a bit to Peri, Tink and all of the fairy friends. We're going to make paper dolls for the craft. They'll get lots of nuts and berries for snacks and of course a pair of wings and a wand.

Up until the party and after, I'll post a few of the fixings created to make this party a fairy land. I already made the fairy house a while back... remember that? A whole day of hot glue and sticks!

SUPPLIES
Craft Moss
Cardboard Cutout
Hot Glue Gun and Glue Sticks

 I used a thick cardstock, like from a cereal box, and cut out a number five. I punched out two holes at the top and tied fishing line to it so I could hang it. Then I hot Glued moss all over, starting at one end and working to the other. Super easy.

DIY PLUSH BUNNY

I made these for Easter. Even though Easter is past, I'll give a quick tutorial, because this doesn't have to be a bunny, you could make it a girlie doll, or another animal. I originally saw a dollie here. But I needed something for Easter so I turned it into a bunny. My husband helped out with their cute little  faces.


MATERIALS
Felt (Collar, Shoes, Ears)
One small button (Collar)
Patterned Fabric (Dress)
Flexible Muslin Fabric (Head. Arms. Legs)
Cotton Lace (Base of Dress)
Embroidery Thread and Needle (Pink. Brown. + Collar Accent)
Scissors. Pins. Sewing Machine. Seam Ripper (if you're like me, and make mistakes)
Iron and Ironing Board
Stuffing
Tracing Paper
Pen
Chopstick (for turning inside out, and stuffing)

PROCESS
1. Draw your plush out, flat on a piece of paper. Try to make it the size you want in the end.
2. Trace over each of the body parts with 1/2" seam allowance. Dress first, then legs, arms, head.
3. Pin the traced pieces to fabric and cut: 2 pieces (back to back for dress) for each item. Use the Muslin for the arms, legs, and head. Use the patterned fabric for the dress.
4. For felt pieces, trace over your original drawing without a seam allowance for the ears. For the shoes and collar pieces, trace with a slight seam allowance
5. Cut out your felt pieces.
Head:
6. Embroidery the face to one piece of the Muslin head. I draw in pencil first and then stitch with pink for the nose and a Dark Brown for the eyes, and nose.
7. Sew the Pink felt to the Muslin ears on the head.
Arms:
8. Sew each of the arms, turn inside out and iron flat. Stuff with stuffing and set aside.
Legs:
9. Take one Muslin leg piece, and the MaryJane felt shoe piece (with the hole). Stitch the top of the felt shoe and the inside of the MaryJane hole. Take the other Muslin leg piece and other felt shoe piece and stitch along the top only.
10. Now back those together and stitch all around. Turn inside out and iron flat. Repeat for the other Leg.
11. Stuff both legs and set aside
Dress:
12. Embroider the center collar piece to the top edge/center of the dress. Sew the button into the center of the center collar piece. Place the two-loop collar piece on top of that.
13. Back up the head piece bottom edge of the head and top edge of the dress with the collar in between. Stitch 1/4" in to connect the head to the dress. Repeat this for the back side of the dress, except without the collar.
Put It Together:
14. Back up and pin the dress/head pieces. Sandwich and pin the arms in just below the collar. Let the arms stick out beyond the edge a bit just to ensure they get sewn in properly.
15. Sew around the dress and head with a 1/4" seam, starting with one arm and ending with the other arm.
16. Once all are connected, tuck the arms up into the head.
17. Pin the legs up inside the dress, making sure that the MaryJane side is the same side as the face. Also, be sure to sandwich a piece of cotton lace (cut the same width as the dress base), in front of the MaryJane shoes. Line it up with the bottom edge of the dress. Let the legs hang out a bit past the edge to ensure that they get sewn in properly.
18. Stitch the remaining starting with one corner, past both legs and then up along one side of the dress. This should leave a 2" gap or so, to pull everything through. I like to use a chopstick when turning things inside out, to get into the small areas.
19. Press the entire thing flat and stuff with stuffing.
20. Hand stitch the remaining 2" opening.

EASTER TAG/STICKER FREE PRINTABLES

I've been in need of some simple little Easter tags this year. Here's a little something I put together for my needs. Maybe you could use it too. You can print them on sheets of sticker paper, or heavy weight paper and cut them out with a Fiskars Scallop Punch. Happy Easter!

EASTER DIY WREATH

Our front door has no shelter. It's a faulty design on our previous owner's part. I think he was still in California in his mind when he designed the front entrance to this house. As a result whatever wreath we put on our door needs to withstand the elements. For Easter, that remains to be true as it is snowing outside right now and it's nearly April. My girlfriend, Tia had a great solution at our last DIY night. She suggested using Target's Christmas garlands. I happen to have two strands and have never loved them at Christmas time. So I'll try them out for Easter.

SUPPLIES
Green Styrofoam Wreath
Hot Glue Gun and Glue Sticks
2 Garlands
Plastic Pearl Eggs

PROCESS
1. Start at the seam of the wreath with a two inch glob of hot glue and secure one end of a garland to the wreath.
2. Wrap the wreath with that garland until it's at it's end. Hopefully you're at the half point of the wreath too. Glue the end of the garland to the wreath.
3. Start again with the second garland where you left off. Glue to fasten and wrap it until at the top and glue again.
4. Hot glue the pearl eggs to the wreath.

You can really use any garland and any decorative objects. These are the items I had and could find easily at Michael's. The whole project took all of 5 minutes. I'm really not kidding. Thank you Hot Glue Gun, I love you.

EASTER BUNTING

I have some gold branches that I pull out every Easter season. I add some sweet little birdie clips from La Bonne Vie at Grand America and some little gold eggs from Jolley's Parmacy.

All was needed was some kind of beads or fabric bunting around it. So I cut up three different fabrics into 1.25"x1.25" triangles and started sewing them together. Easy.
Happy Easter!

ST. PATRICK'S DAY FELT GARLAND

This is my last minute jam. I have nothing for St. Patty's but I had some green felt, gold and green thread and a handful of golden felt balls. That's enough to pull together a little festive garland. It won't be up for long though, Easter is right around the corner.

ST. PATRICK'S DAY TREAT BAG

We don't go all out for St. Patrick's Day at our house, but it's hard to pass up chocolate coins wrapped in gold foil! They make a great little surprise gift for the kids on the 17th.

SUPPLIES
Clear Cellophane Bags
Chocolate Gold Coins
Green Ribbon
Gold Metallic Shred

DIY FAIRY HOUSE

I'm not sure about those of you with girls, but our girls love fairies. At Grandma's house there is a fairy room (she was inspired years ago for the grandkids to come). But they started to really love fairies when their other Grandma gave them "Secret Of The Wings" for Christmas last year. It was a hit from the git. They love watching Periwinkle and Tinkerbell and all of her friends. I actually don't mind watching it with them. It's really cute and there's not a whole lot to fast forward. Vidia is a bit grumpy but we can talk through some of those parts and turn it into a lesson.

So we got hooked on all of the Tinkerbell movies. "The Great Fairy Rescue" inspired this little fairy house project. I love the house that Lizzy made in the movie. She handled it with such care and now I know why. They aren't so simple to put together. It took some hours to gather the fixin's with the kids and create. With Spring on its way, it will be an ongoing project including it in the garden.

SUPPLIES
Wood Structure - Birdhouse, or gazibo
Small Saw
Brown Paint
Sponge Brush
Scissors/Garden Cutters - Tough ones that can cut sticks
Twine
Hot Glue Gun and Glue
Fixin's - Sticks. Pinecones. Leaves. Nuts. Acorns. Snail Shells. Pods
Rocks

PROCESS
1. I wanted a structure that they could actually use and have their fairies walk into so I needed something that was larger than a standard $1 birdhouse. I opted for a gazibo-like birdhouse from Joann's (although, I can't find it online). I also wanted wood so it wouldn't rot out too quickly.
2. Saw out one support post for a larger door and entrance.
3. Paint it brown so it blends well with the sticks and outdoors. My daughter loves painting so this was a good time to include her.
4. Measure one stick against the structure and snap or cut it down to size. If it's a bigger stick, you can score the stick with the scissors and then use the counter edge (if it's a tough material) to help snap it in half.
5. Cut a lot of sticks that same size. I probably used about 60 sticks.
6. Start gluing the sticks with the hot glue gun next to eachother, side by side. If they don't meet up perfectly, no worries, you can add another layer of sticks to fill in the gaps.
7. Between two posts, you can create a window by adding two small sticks horizontally and building the sticks on that wall up to the window.
8. With the wall in place all the way around there should be a large gap where the one support post was sawed out. This is for the door.

9. Take apart a large pinecone and cut off the raw eges of each "shingle".
10. Starting at the bottom of the roof, hot glue each shingle on, side by side, all the way around. Layer by layer until you reach the top.
11. Near the top, I left a space for some bark chunks to be glued into place. And then some rope bits around the "chimney". This was originally a hole in the top of the ball that held the rope loop in place. Later, I'll turn that into a more interesting chimney with acorns and stuffing for smoke.
12. For the door, I tied a large piece of twine around the last stick on the left of the large opening. One at the top and one at the bottom. I tied the knot in the center of the large piece of twine, leaving two even long strands. These are used to connect each stick to eachother creating a large swinging door. If you run out of twine, no worries, just tie on a new piece of twine and secure the knots with hot glue.
13. The last stick needs to connect to the stick on the right of the large opening. With the left over twine, I knotted the remaining until it was near the end and then a connected the top and bottom with a button. I'm actually probably going to redo this part because I'm not sold on how it turned out. But it works for now, the door closes.

Not shown: Insert some moss inside on the floor. Any wood parts that are still exposed can have leaves glued to hide them. You can then make a mini pillow, blanket, even a treasure box to carry the fairy items to the play area.

My hope is to create a little fairy garden within our garden, so that it is surrounded by plants, dirt and a little rock path. Maybe make a little postbox, fairy sign for the door and some furniture. I've seen all kinds of cute fairy house fixings out there so the ideas are endless. That's why this project may go on for a while. Once we get into the garden, I'll update.

Welcome Fairies!

PICKY EATERS SURPRISE LUNCH

I for some reason, as a single person thought I would be exempt from kids that were picky about food. Perhaps I figured because I love all foods, that they would too? I don't know, maybe it was just that blind ignorance thing... you really don't know until your own kids are making you crazy about this or that. I do have picky eaters. And now, I wave it off like everyone does, right? Not necessarily. I'm sure some of how I approach things could be better. I've seen moms offer up foods in ice trays hoping that the little sections will entice them to miraculously enjoy carrots. I know my kids like finger "snack" foods so I think this has some validity.

So I tried it. I told them I was preparing a surprise lunch. I used our old Beaba Babycook freezer containers as the plate and the bright colors surely offered some pow and punch to that surprise. They were so excited! And they started in immediately. That's a plus right there. Most days it's tricky just getting them to the table. I also tried to load it with mostly fruits and veggies.

I know they like kidney beans = protein. I know they like frozen peas = veggie. They don't do well with carrots, but I cut them in chunks for something different. I cut up apples and bananas because I knew that was a favorite. And blueberries. The one bonus (for them) was the crackers. Of course, it was the first thing they ate. They don't get those very often. This was a semi success. I will try it again after some time. I won't do it a lot because it's still new and exciting. But they did go for at least one full baby carrot and half of the peas... that is HUGE right there.

If you have a Babycook and you happen to have these laying around, they make for a great starting point for an exciting surprise lunch. I think this kind of thing could even be good for snacks, and put healthier snacks in there. There's something pretty awesome about eating things in compartments.

LA ESQUINA, NYC

On my husband's most recent trip to New York, he came back with some goodies (stickers, matchbooks etc.) from a now favorite new-to-us restaurant, La Esquina. I thought I'd share, for those of you in NYC... if you haven't been there, it's supposed to be a fabulous source for Mexican food and worth checking out.

As I recall, after living there in the 90s, there was every kind of food you could imagine, from every country... and all so very good. It was hard to choose a favorite. But one I always felt that the city lacked was good Mexican food. So this apparently solves that problem. Now all I need to do is figure out a way to get back there to try it out!

I hear it's a bit tough to get into. Unless, like my husband, you happen to be with his boss who we affectionately refer to as "Obi Brent Kenobi" and you can just walk up and wave a hand and there you are. What a force.

SICK DAYS

Winters around these parts are long and cold and tend to mean grass is a faint memory. I haven't seen grass since December. I'm really not kidding. I saw some yesterday and then it snowed last night again. By mid-February most people are playing out their previously planned vacations because we all know that it's just about enough!

We however, decided to put in a bathroom instead of going somewhere exciting so here we sit, trying not to spend money and well... getting sick over and over again. With one in preschool and the other in the beginnings of her getting-sick-years, sickness is recycled within our home endlessly. We don't get out much is the short story.

With all of this time at home, it is a challenge keeping television to a minimum. So we do a lot of crafting. I try to set up worthwhile crafting ideas to lessen the nonsense pieces of nothingness that end up in the trash after a few days. Those are ok too, because honestly, we can't keep everything they create.

Currently we're in party planning mode so I helped the kids make some party hats using paper, beads, and fabric. if you want to get serious about it, use a hot glue gun, otherwise Elmer's is fine, but I glob it on to make the beads stay which means it should dry overnight.

PROCESS
1. Make a cone with a thicker paper. I started with a 13"x19" sheet. Cut the bottom so that it's even and cut a 1/2" hole at the top to glue in a tassel.
2. Punch two small holes in the bottom at the half points.
3. Tie on an elastic after measuring roughly around their heads.
4. Make a top tassel with strips of several fabrics that the kids choose, add some ribbon and yarn, then tied string around it to make it a tassel. Secure it in the top of the cone with hot glue.
5. Have them choose their buttons and hot glue around the rim. If they want to do the gluing, use Elmer's and let it dry over night.

* They could draw on the paper first or use a patterned piece of paper. I just had white laying around.

CHOCOLATE VALENTINE'S SUCKERS

These are so easy, it's ridiculous. I had some sucker molds and sticks on hand so the only thing I needed to buy were the chocolate wafers. I buy them at a food supplier in town called Gygi's. One of the easiest places to lose your money fast.

SUPPLIES
Milk Chocolate Apeels
Sucker Molds
Sucker Sticks
Squeeze Bottle
Cellophane Bags
Ribbon

PROCESS
1. Load the sucker molds with sucker sticks.
2. Melt the wafers on medium-low heat. Stirring occasionally.
3. No need to boil, they melt so smooth and yummy.
4. When the wafers are almost all melted, turn the heat off and stir until melted entirely.
5. Pour melted chocolate into a squeeze bottle (if you have one, this makes it easy and less messy when loading the sucker molds.)
6. Squeeze the chocolate over the tip of the stick first and into the whole of the mold.
7. Wiggle the tray gently and let the chocolate settle in.
8. Chill in the refrigerator for 10 minutes or so, not long, just until it hardens again.
9. Pop out the suckers one at a time, and place in the cellophane bags.
10. Tie off with ribbon.

It's a yummy and quick Valentine's treat. Also good for Easter or birthday parties. There are so many cute molds you just start thinking, what else can I make chocolate suckers for?!?

VALENTINE'S DAY DECORATIONS

Here's a peek at our Valentine's decorations.

Last year everything was pink and gold, which is a combination that I LOVE. But this year I'm liking the vintage silver pieces in the mix. The hanging hearts are felt and fabric stitched straight and hung from the ceiling. The flower vase was painted by my grandmother many years ago. The frames are all spray painted in various pinks. And the feather wreaths are made from styrofoam hearts and feathers, hot glued all around. I've made a couple of garlands this year and my kids and I covered their bedroom doors with hearts from various crafting moments and valentines sent from their friends.

VALENTINE'S CRAFT FOR KIDS

Good glory, what is it about putting Valentine's goodies together for my kids friends that makes me a bit crazy. Is it the constant pleading for the various pieces that go into each package? Is it the refusal to participate in a way that is actually helpful? Yes and yes.

So this year, sadly, it's been tough trying to teach my kids the reason why we give things to our friends and family. For those people that we love. It's been a challenge to explain that Valentine's are fun to GIVE. I'd love to be able to say my kids are perfect, sharing angels at all times but it's just not the case, darnit. After this day passes, we'll all forget and they'll have a lovely Valentine's Day and enjoy giving and getting but the process has been... well... a process.

Here's one of the crafts that we worked on in a good moment. I had a bunch of yarn scrap left over from making pom poms so I came up with something fun for the excess. We made Valentine's cards with pink paper, Elmer's glue and the yarn scraps. It's messy, but what isn't, right? After the glue was dry, I hairsprayed it to give it a little "hold".

VALENTINE'S BUTTON WREATH

This is easy, but admittadly, it takes a ton of pink bottons, which can get spendy if you're collecting in a rush. I had collected over time plus I purchased some batches of pink buttons on etsy. So overall this wreath cost me about $25.

SUPPLIES
Styrofoam Heart
Pink fabric scraps cut into strips
Hot Glue Gun & Glue Sticks
Lots and lots of buttons - I used a variety of pinks
Ribbon for hanging - I used 1.5" silk
Wire

PROCESS
1. Cut a 2"-3" piece of wire and bend it in a "U" shape.
2. Poke the two ends of the wire into the back, top of the foam heart. Hot glue into place.
3. Cut long strips of fabric about 1"-2" wide. Use fabric that is the same color as your buttons. I used linen, because I happened to have some, but you could use anything, preferably solid. Felt would work great.
4. Wrap the foam heart. Start by hot gluing it into place next to the wire and wrap around the wire to further secure it.
5. When completely wrapped, start hot gluing buttons on. Start with the larger buttons, then medium sized and use the smaller ones to fill in empty spaces. Note that the larger buttons don't "wrap" around the roundness of the heart form and that's ok. If you'd like to be less random, look for a styrofoam heart that has flat surfaces.
6. Wrap a long ribbon around the top and complete with a knot about 7" from the top of the heart. This is used for hanging. The nail in the wall will be most likely be hidden by the ribbon.

AN EVENING AT BRAINTREE

What a whirlwind that was! We had such a great time making our Valentine's garlands. Some very lovely ladies joined me and made these garlands their own whether by arranging the ingredients in a pattern or non-pattern, by squooshing everything tight or spacing them out, or by including a central large pompom or keeping them all uniform. They all did such great work. Hooray for Braintree for providing a grand place for us to be creative together! I'm honored to be a part of the fun. They have oodles of classes coming up. Check the Braintree site often and don't miss out.

Photos compliments of Braintree.

Do you want a freebie? Print this on 8.5"x11" sticker paper and punch cut each circle with a Fiskars scalloped squeeze punch.

BRAINTREE PREPARATIONS

If you're signed up already, hooray for you! We're going to make super cute Valentine's Garlands. Details here.

Here's a peek.

GOOD BOOK

The Fir Tree by Hans Christian Andersen. Illustrated by Sanna Annukka. We got this book in December, actually, my husband wanted it for Christmas. It was a good choice. I've been inspired by it ever since I opened it. Sanna Annukka's illustrations are remarkable. I love the gold foil on the green linen cover as well. It's a beautiful little book.




My goal for this year, and it will take a year, is to make stockings for my daughters using inspiration from this book. I've never quilted before, but I want to patch quilt triangles of fabric in various patterns and colors for each of my daughters. White wool felt backing and fold-over flap with their names stitched on the flap. I also want to figure out how to incorporate a cross stitch of each of them. I'm still in the thinking stage. I've been thinking since December. This is why this project will take a year ;)

JOIN US FOR A BRAINTREE CLASS

Braintree has officially begun. My friend Dallas has started a fantastic space and place for creativity and learning to dwell. He's asked several friends, and let me just say that this is a guy that knows many, MANY people. He not only knows them, he keeps track of their goings on. He's truly a wonder to me. I don't know how he keeps up on so many people and all while being so very sincere and loving. But he and his friend Paul have asked a handful of their friends to participate in teaching something that they love, do, or know a bit about... whatever it may be. You can go on their site and see their first batch of classes available. You can also sign up to be a teacher or make a teacher or class suggestion if you'd like.

These are one session classes that are cost effective and above all fun. I'm teaching a craft class on February 6th at 8:00 p.m. We will be making Valentine's Garlands, much like this one that I made last Easter.

I'm really excited to be a part of his new project because when Dallas has an idea, it's sure to be big and great fun. Hooray for Dallas and Paul!

If you're local, and interested, click here to sign up. Maybe I'll see you there ;)

TIME TO REFRESH

After packing away our Christmas decorations I feel like my house is completely bare. Just lacking. But that feeling lasts for about a day and then I feel like I want to organize and refresh everything around me. CLEAN SLATE.

There are lots of projects to decrease the clutter from the previous year. Most importantly, I want to purge the toys and the craft drawer. I want to clean out the refrigerator, refresh the junk drawer and our basement storage room. The garage is another big one.

But what are some of the little things that I can do to make our space feel refreshed and new. I like to swap out things like pillows, wall art, throws, items on the kitchen counter. In my daughters room, I like to organize their closets and swap out the clothes that are too small. I find these things all rather enjoyable actually. Not too chore-like for me, but the accumulation of them can feel like a chore over all.

So I space them out over January before the February decorations come out from the basement. I try to accomplish one item a day.
- Now I can smile when I open the kitchen junk drawer.
- The kitchen feels like I can cook in it.
- The pantry is organized so that the oldest cans are in the front.
- The laundry room is refreshed with the linens pressed and ready for the next dinner.
- The basement is ready for another year of in and out madness.
- Our 72-hour kit is updated.
- I've cleaned out the craft drawer.
- The toys are edited.
- The kids closets are updated so I know what clothes they need and already have.
- The garage... my husband will do that when the weather warms up a bit.

We're feeling pretty good. I'm not sure what your list is like, but I think any home big or small, with kids or without could use a little of this. New Years feels like the natural time for "spring cleaning". And honestly, we need this kind of editing more than once a year.

Here's a FREE FELT HANGER TEMPLATE for your kids closets. I keep these simple and easy to swap out by using key tags and a Sharpie for the sizing. I buy kid-sized hangers here. I sew three of these for the sizing around what my daughter is currently wearing. This project takes about a half hour.

Print this on 11x17 at 100%

PACKAGES + HONEY BUTTER RECIPE

I do love a good package. One of my favorite parts of Christmas preparation is wrapping up the givings. I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas. And may your New Year be happy and bright.

If you find you have nothing to do and would like to wrap up a little something for some close friends or family, here's a Cinnamon Honey Butter recipe and free printable label. It doesn't take long to make and could be done for the New Year.

CINNAMON HONEY BUTTER
Makes 3 half pint jars - Double the recipe for about 6-7 jars
Ingredients
1 cup Honey
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
3 half pint canning jars

Directions
1. Combine all ingredients in bowl. Using whisk attachment on mixer blend until smooth    
    and creamy, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.
2. Use rubber spatula to pour mixture in to a large pastry bag (or Ziploc bag), cut off tip and     squeeze into half pint jars. (tip: place bag in tall glass for support, or have someone hold     the bag while you pour).

Here's a FREE Printable Label for you.

After printing these labels on sticker sheet paper, use Fiskars Scalloped Squeeze Punch to cut them out. Next cut out circle shapes the size of the jar lid and insert into the jar and stick the sticker onto the craft paper. Add a ribbon and you're done.

Many thanks for a fantastic year of sharing. I've enjoyed blogging my findings and I hope to continue in 2013. Happy New Year!
xxo
vb

FELT ACORN GARLAND

When our sweet niece was legally adopted we were fortunate enough to go to the courthouse, witness this and explain to our kids that their new cousin was now legally part of our family. On our way out to the car after, I noticed a ton of acorns had dropped from the trees. As my husband loaded our kids, I gathered as many as I could and shoved them in my pocket. I knew I needed to do something with them to remember her special day.

I love felt ball acorns, I made a bunch for our Thanksgiving table in 2011 and I figured I could do the same with these and turn them into a garland for her baby room. So I ordered several felt balls (my favorite sources are here and here).

Now, just a few words about felting balls... I have tried this... and now I have a ton of roving left over after my sad discovery that purchasing felt balls is much more desirable than making felt balls. If making them with soap and water, it's tough on the hands and worse on the patience level. But I've provided links (above) for those that are feeling the need to learn. There is another method, needle felting that maybe I'll try one day.

After the balls came in the mail, this project took all of 20 minutes.

SUPPLIES
Acorn Caps
Felt Balls
Hot Glue Gun and Glue Sticks
String or Twine - I chose twine which is why I used hot glue.
* If using string, get a Felts Needle to string these through the ball.
Explanation Tag - I created a tag in Illustrator and printed on sticker paper.
Scissors

PROCESS
1. Line up all of the caps
2. Line up all of the balls in front of the caps to get your color pattern in order.
3. Hot glue the inside of the cap, place the string on top of the glue and then place the ball on top of the string and press into the cap.
4. Repeat this for all of the caps and balls, spacing them as desired. I spaced mine about 1.5" apart.
5. Snip off the stems of the acorn caps if there are any.
6. If you'd like a little tag included place that around the string at the first acorn.