Buttons!

Buttons were on sale at Hobby Lobby last week! I stocked up and I won't need to buy buttons for a long time.

I decided to sew a few buttons to the top heart on some sachets.

The rhinestone crown looks super regal!

The anchor button looks fantastic on the blue felt.

I will be using some other buttons in upcoming craft projects - so keep checking back!

Birthday Flowers

When I go to a birthday lunch I like to bring a little bouquet of flowers for the birthday girl. I save my tin cans and cover them with scrapbook or wrapping paper using double stick tape. Then I hot glue some thin ribbon to the top and bottom of the can and add a few little doodads. On this vase I glued a few little flowers left over from a Mother's Day project.

I almost always buy my flowers at Trader Joe's and I am partial to wildflowers. But roses would also look cute in these vases. So start saving your tin cans, scrapbook paper and ribbon scraps!

Red, White and Blue Necklaces for Meals on Wheels

I make a little treat each month for Meals on Wheels. So each month depending on the holiday I make a little craft that they add to the meal. While I watch the French Open I have been making these Red, White and Blue necklaces. They are for the 4th of July treat. So far I have made 26 necklaces and need to make 24 more!

I think I have a good idea on how to package these once they are all completed. Kids can make these for friends and family! You will just need a few supplies.

The red and blue pony beads can be found at any craft store. Remember to use a coupon!

You will also need some paper straws. I bought my paper straws at Michael's. I have also noticed that they have paper straws at a lot of party stores. The paper straws should be cut into little pieces to make beads.

I used this silver elastic beading thread. I found it next to the pony beads at Michael's.

Make each necklace long enough to loop over someone's head.

I think the Meals on Wheels recipients will really like these necklaces. My mom told me that one of the crafts that they liked the most was the "Super Bowl" ring that I made back in January and that her charitable group just gave Meals on Wheels over a thousand dollars.

Check back in a week and I will post how I packaged the necklaces. It is fun to get something in a cute package!

Handmade Rosaries

Last week when I went over to my parent's house to take my Dad for his walk - he gave me these handmade Rosaries. He said that the ladies who make them are probably going to stop soon because it is getting hard for them to make them. I guess they are suffering from some arthritis.

Can you see some of the hand tied knots?

In this picture you can see some of the knots they made . I am going to save these special Rosaries and give them to Christian and his buddies on Confirmation day. Handmade gifts are always more special.

God Bless the special ladies who made these.

Colorful Graduation Announcements

Yesterday, I received my daughter's graduation announcements! We decided against the cream colored announcements that you buy through the college and decided to get  some colorful announcements from Tiny Prints.

I am going to use the floral color theme throughout her graduation party. I hope I remember to take pictures!

Our beautiful daughter is graduating on June 14. Now, June 14 is also Flag Day (God Bless America) and my Dad's birthday (I love you Dad)!

My Dad graduated from both prep school (St. Augustine) and college (University of San Diego) on his birthday. And now his first grandchild is graduating from college on his birthday. It is truly a special day - we have come fill circle. After the graduation ceremony we are invited to a special reception because she is receiving three awards.

We are so very proud!

My New Favorite Heart Sachets

I have been fooling around with different combinations of felt hearts. This is my new favorite combination. The bright blue and emerald green felt with white embroidery thread.

For this project you will need:

2 colors of felt

black pen

2 different sized heart cookie cutters

scissors

embroidery thread

good sized needle

dried lavender 

Each sachet will need two large hearts and one small heart in a contrasting color. Trace the cookie cutters with the black pen on the felt and cut them out with sharp scissors.

Sew the contrasting felt heart onto one of the large hearts. Before the small heart is completely sewn add a little bit of dried lavender.

Now sew the two large hearts together with the little heart attached to the front and before the large hearts are completely sewn together add some more dried lavender.

I have just used a simple running stitch - but I have noticed some of the felt projects on Pinterest are using blanket stitches. So this week I am planning on trying to teach myself the blanket stitch.

Although I am partial to this running stitch. It is so simple and I can sew the running stitch while I watch the French Open. And the French Open starts this weekend yeah!

I Refinished my Outdoor Teak Furniture

My outdoor teak furniture was looking blah and tired. I was going to get some new chair pads but what I really needed to do was refinish all of my teak outdoor furniture. I called a few teak refinishing companies and I felt that the prices were way to high, So I decided to do it myself. But I am such a wimp - that I did this project in small batches.

The first batch was 2 chairs, a coffee table and a tray table. The second batch was 4 chairs.
The third and final batch was the table, 2 chairs and a bench.

Each batch was a long tedious process. First each piece of teak must be throughly cleaned with TSP and a scrub brush. Then wait for the teak to dry and sand every inch of the furniture. Hose off the teak to remove the sand shavings. Then wait for the teak to dry and finally each piece gets two coats of teak oil.

I am sharing some before and after pictures.

The transformation is really fantastic and just took a couple hundred dollars and a ton of elbow grease.

I still haven't bought new chair pads or an umbrella. I have been looking around and I will post the final pictures with chair pads in a few weeks.

FYI - when you are using the TSP - don't hose off the TSP residue near your grassy areas - I accidentally  killed quite a bit of grass. I talked to my gardener and he somehow fixed the problem and the grass has started turning from brown to green again.

Add caption

These are the chairs we sit it when we supervise the kids while they make s'mores.

Another FYI is that teak oil can stain your patio cement /stone. Use a drop cloth!!!

I also refinished the bench from the from yard - but I couldn't find  a before picture of the bench. But you guessed it - it was gray and tired.

Now I want to buy new flowers for the terra cotta pots. So as I said earlier I will post the final pictures in a few weeks. I just don't have the energy to re-plant the pots this week!

Tulip Felt Sachets

It was so hot yesterday - I just felt like sitting on the couch and watching television.  So I thought it would be a good time to experiment with making some more felt sachets. I have a lot of felt from various projects so I found a tulip cookie cutter and went to town.

For this project you will need:

felt

flower cookie cutter

black pen

scissors

embroidery thread

large needle

dried lavender 

Trace the cookie cutter on your felt and cut it out.

Then sew two felt pieces together. Before the tulip is sewn shut pour the dried lavender into the tulip.

These would look really cute tied onto a wrapped package and they smell fantastic. They are perfect for your lingerie drawer, suitcase or linen cabinet.

Mother's Day

I hosted a Mother's Day dinner at my house. I had grandiose plans taking pictures of the food and flowers. However, once I started get drinks, appetizers and getting dinner ready I took very few pictures and I am super bummed.

However, I did take some photos of my cupcakes. I just made some vanilla cupcakes with some vanilla frosting. To get the word "Mom"I simply melted some blue chocolate tabs from Michael's and put the melted chocolate in a zipper top bag. Snip a little end off and write "Mom" on wax paper. Place the wax paper in the freezer for 15 minutes. When you take the wax paper out of the freezer gently peel the word off the wax paper and place it on the cupcake. Move over Martha Stewart.

I also made everyone a Mother's Day bouquet. However, I only took one picture of the actual bouquet. I made 8 bouquets and used them to decorate the dining room and outdoor tables. And forgot to take photos.

However, I did take some photos on how to make the vases. If you save your tin cans from soup or other canned goods you can recycle them into vases.

For this project you need:

tin cans - cleaned with the labels removed

scrapbook paper

double sided scotch tape

ribbon scraps

buttons or flower stickers

glue stick

I always clean the tin cans in the dishwasher. Once they are dry I make a scratch paper pattern and then cut the scrapbook paper to size using the pattern.

Using the double stick tape adhere the scrapbook paper to the tin can.

Heat up the glue gun and add ribbon to the top and bottom of the cans. Then decorate with little paper flowers.

Now fill the cans with water and add flowers.

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day! These ideas can be used for any party or celebration.

Mother's Day Sachets

I made some sachets for Mother's Day party favors.

They were really easy to make. I always find it relaxing to make crafts while I watch my favorite television shows.

To make this project you will need:

felt

embroidery thread

good sized needle

two different sized heart cookie cutters

black ballpoint pen

small buttons

dried flowers/potpourri 

Directions:

Using the black marker and two different sized cookie cutter - mark them out on the felt.

For each sachet you will need 2 large hearts and 1 small heart.

On the small heart write MOM in the middle of the heart.

I used cookie cutters to trace the hearts - but you could also make some cardboard patterns.

On the small heart - embroider the MOM. Use a small button for the "o". Then sew the small heart onto a big heart.

Now sew the two big hearts together. Before the hearts are sewn shut add the scented dried flowers.

I used a Lily of the Valley scented dried flowers to fill each of the hearts and they smell fantastic!

These are just meant to be fun little party favors that you can put in your lingerie drawer or linen cabinet.

Happy Mother's Day!

Sunflower Seed Cones for the Baseball Team

I was going to make these treats for Christian's baseball team before Easter and I was going to add green and orange ribbon to make it look like a carrot. However, we went away for the Easter holiday and I never got around to making my "carrot" treat.

Because I ended up making this snack after the Easter holiday - I decided to use a red ribbon because red is the team color.

I bought the cone shaped cellophane bags at Hobby Lobby, the sunflower seeds from Target and the ribbon from Michael's.

The boys can keep these in their bags and I kept an extra bag for my husband - he likes also likes sunflower seeds at the game.