Baby Beanie

My child's teacher made every student a beanie this year for thier Christmas Present. (How awesome is that!) She gave me a quick tutorial and I never realized it was SO easy!! I made one for the Chan Man since his baby hats are all super thin and don't fit his ginormous head. Before you start, measure your child's head circumference, and from their ears up however long you want your beanie to be. Mine was 20 x 18, and it was a little bit big but that's ok!

1. Cut fleece to desired shape. Roll one of the long edges 1/4 of an inch, then another inch. Pin along the bottom.
2. Sew along this strip you just folded. (I used a decorative stitch that looked like snowflakes.)
3. On the other long side of the beanie, cut strips that will be the tassles at the top. (about 3-4 inches down.)
4. Match the short sides together and sew together. Turn beanie right side out.
5. Tie a piece of yarn or string below the tassles.

This one was SO easy and oober inexpensive. Beats buying a beanie at the store!! AND, if you make one for older kids you could do a matching scarf AND mittens. So cute!

We had these boring plain green sparkly wreaths laying around so I decided to spice them up a bit. (My husband calls these his "Bachelor Wreaths".) You could do SO many things with these (Like wire multi-colored ornaments all over, that would be adorable!) I opted to use wooden words and ribbon for mine. I got each sparkly word for 40 cents at Michaels. Can't beat that!

1. Wire each word to the wreath with craft wire.
2. Make a big fancy bow and wire it to the wreath.

Easy as 1, 2!

Note: I KNOW, I KNOW, my bow looks kinda BAD. I watched a bow tutorial online and just didn't get it.....next time my maw is over I'll have her do it. For now, it stays!

My neighbor introduced me to this super cute fun advent calendar! My kids LOVED it, and it was CHEAP to make!!

1. Buy 12 (13 if you want XMas Day) stockings. (Target had each pair for $1!)
2. Make number tags to glue onto 24 clothes pins. (I downloaded a CUTE font from fontspace.com, then glued to colored paper, and homemade laminated them with packing tape.)
3. Cut out small pieces of ribbon to make bows to also glue to the clothes pins. (I used silver, red, and green.)
4. Glue the number tag and ribbon to the top of the clothes pin.
5. Decide where you want to hang you socks and cut your ribbon accordingly. (We hung ours over the fireplace.)
6. Fill each stocking with enough candy for each person in your home each day. Every night, we each had a treat and read a Christmas book until the big day!!

I also found a stuffed Santa at Michael's for $2 so every day we moved him to the next stocking. (Mostly for the 5 year old. Easier for him to see how close we were getting to Christmas.)

SO CUTE!!

By now you probably noticed, I REALLY like Mod Podge!! I've had this wooden tree sitting in my garage for 2 years courtesy of my not so crafty mom. Glad I didn't do anything to it before I discovered Mod Podge!!

1. Measure paper to desired shape. (This one was tricky because it is so TALL. I ended up taping 3 pieces of scrapbook paper together, then taping them TO the tree, then tracing the shape of the tree onto the paper.)
2. Paint the sides/back of the tree desired color. (3 coats.)
3. After the paint is dry, Mod Podge the paper to the tree. Be careful not to get Mod Podge onto the already painted places. It won't just fade it, it will look glossy and weird!
4. Let it dry a few hours, then I sprayed mine with glitter and Acrylic Spray.
5. Let it dry a day, then use a screw driver to poke holes for your lights. Make sure to poke from front to back so the paper goes to the back of the tree.
6. Plug your lights into the back of the tree (50 strand lights) and you have a super cute tree to deck your halls!!

Step Stool Mod Podged

Being pregnant and having a baby who still can't sit up in the bath yet, getting up off the floor was literally a pain in the butt! I've had this stool sitting around and decided I'd put it to use. Here's what I did

1. Measure you scrapbook paper and cut it the sizes you want. I opted to cover only parts of the stool as to not over do it.
2. Paint the stool your desired color using craft paint. I did 3-4 coats.
3. After your paint has dryed, Mod Podge your paper into the right places.
4. Let the stool dry for a few hours, then spray with Acrylic Spray to seal it.
5. Do not set anything on the stool (including your bottom!) for 4-5 days to let it completely dry.

There are SO many cute things you could do with this!! Have fun with it!!

Car Seat Cover

I started seeing these everywhere this summer and then I found a GREAT tutorial from Make It And Love It so I decided I'd take a shot at making one! This one is attached with grosgrain ribbon, however I have seen other designs with buttons or velcro straps at the top. (I have not yet figured out how to sew button holes on my machine, so I stuck with the velcro.....beginner sewer here!)

1. Buy 2 pieces of fabric 1 1/4 yard each. (I used flannel because the patterns were cute and it's cozier than cotton.)
2. Lay pieces together with the right sides together. (the pretty sides touching, ugly sides on the outside.) Cut any excess fabric so you have a perfect rectangle. Pin around edges.
3. Sew along the edges of the fabric leaving a 5 inch hole when you get to the end.
4. Turn the blanket right-side-out through the hole you left. Hand stich the hole shut.
5. Measure from the top of your blanket (long ways) 22 inches down. Mark with a pin.
6. Measure your blanket short-ways and mark the middle. Then measure 4 inches out on each side. Mark with a pin. (You are locating the two places where you will sew the ribbons and you want them to be even.)
7. Measure two strands of ribbon 22 inches long each. Use a match to seal the ends of the ribbon so it won't fray later on.
8. Find the middle of the ribbon and sew each one to the two places you just marked.

I LOVE this car seat cover because I can take it off and use it as a blanket or a bottle prop if I don't have anything else to use. Fabric on sale at Joanne's is $3 a yard, so with all the other stuff you need to make it, this Car Seat Cover costs less than $10 to make yourself!! Can't beat that in ANY store!

Recipe Box Mod Podged

(Sorry for not taking pictures along the way! I tried that and decided I will just show you my project and TELL you how to do it. If you have questions after that, don't be afraid to ask!!)

I got these recipe boxes at Michael's for $5 a piece! Here are the basic directions for Mod Podging the box:

1. Trace scrapbook paper to fit outside pieces.
2. Paint inside of box the color you want. Make sure to dry it with the lid open or it will dry shut! And don't paint the hinges!
3. Mod Podge paper to outside of box. I had to let it dry a while before doing the top/bottom. Be careful with Mod Podge, if you put a glued side flat side down on your table it will stick and your paper will look bad so let it dry before setting it down.
4. Let it dry a day or so and then spray the entire thing with Acrylic Spray. Don't set anything on top of the box for at least a week to make sure it's DRY DRY!
5. Embellish with ribbons, stickers, letters, buttons, flowers, bows, etc!! Go Crazy!!!
6. I traced recipe dividers out of cardstock and labeled them with stickers.

This is functional, but also pretty if you need a good kitchen decoration. Have fun with it!!

Clip Board Mod Podged

This clipboard matches the recipe box in the next post. Not that I really USE a clipboard (If I was still teaching maybe!) but this is SUCH a cute gift for teachers!! I got a super cute one with the cutest little girl in the corner and my name. I hung it by my desk rather than actually used it. None the less, it was ADORABLE!!

1. Measure scrapbook paper to fit your clipboard.
2. Mod Podge paper to clipboard.
3. Let dry for a day or so and spray with Acrylic Spray.
4. Glue a strip of ribbon (velvet would be SO cute, I used polka dot) to the seam of the two papers.
5. Embellish with buttons, bows, stickers, words, etc. SO CUTE!

Family Home Evening Chart

I saw something like this on display at Robert's MONTHS ago and bought the plaque but never got around to it. I decided this would be a CUTE Christmas present for my brother and his family so here it is!! Sorry I didn't take pictures along the way, but I'll tell you how I did it. (The plaque is usually $20, but it was on sale for $12, AND I had a 50% off coupon!)


1. Measure your paper and cut it to the correct size to cover the metal sheet. Remember your seams and how you want them to look. (i.e. Try to make stripes match in the middle etc.)

2. Paint the wood whatever color you want. I choose dark dark brown. It's ok if you get paint on the metal because you can scratch it off with your fingernail. Paint front and back with 2-3 coats.

3. Mod-Podge your paper to the sheet metal. This can be tricky if you've never Mod Podged before!!

4. Let the whole thing dry for a couple of hours before you mess with it again. While it dries you can prepare your name plates/job plates.

5. Place the family name and FHE words on the wood. I used stickers from American Crafts (Thanks to the M-I-L!) because I don't have a cricuit but I imagine a Cricuit would be PERFECT for this job because you can customize the size/font you want.

6. Spray over the whole front and back with Acrylic Spray. Let it sit for a few hours before touching it and DO NOT lay anything on top of it for a few days!

7. Measure the ribbon and tie it through the holes. I used green grosgrain.


Name Plates:
1. Buy the needed number of name plates and the color of paper you want to cover the front. I bought wooden rectangles from Robert's for $.40 each. I also included a couple extra for when the family has more kids.

2. Measure the paper for the front of the name plate. Paint the sides and back of the name plate the color you want. (I used brown, the same as the wood.) Repaint with 2-3 coats.

3. Let the paint dry, then Mod Podge the paper to the fronts of the name plates. Do not stack them or lay them upside down for at least 4 days! If my paper ends up hanging off of the sides on parts, I turn it upside down WHEN IT IS A FEW DAYS DRY and razor blade the extra paper off. (The problem with this is I usually knick the wood and have to retouch up the paint on those parts, but the paper fits better.)

4. When your name plates have dried a few days, put you stickers/vinyl names on. To make sure the name is in the middle, I put the middle letter or letters on first right in the middle of the rectangle, then work my way out.

5. Spray your name plates with Acrylic Sealer. ($5 at Michaels.) Spray front and let dry a few hours before you spray the back.

6. Glue a magnet onto the back of each name plate.


Job Plates

1. Buy the needed number of mirrors for your FHE chart. (You could use wooden pieces too, but I thought mirrors would look different!)

2. Apply your letters. (I used Coffee House sticker rolls from Robert's. $.50) You can use vinyl letters from a Cricuit or rub on letters ($8 from Robert's). I tried using the rub on letters first, but there is no way to really seal them on, so if the letters get knicked they will look crappy. Vinyl would be ideal, but stickers did it for me. I had a hard time finding letters small enough for that little mirror!

3. Glue a magnet onto the back of each mirror.

Put your name plates/mirrors into place and you have yourself a pretty dang cute, changable, add-to-able, take-away-able FHE chart!!!